i Love Washi

Hi there Bloglanders.

I hope you are well.  I'm having a great day. Rainy again in Sunny SA but I can stay indoors and craft on. Want to see what I have to share today? Without further ado:

Remember I did a Twine version?  If you missed it, just click here. I got the idea on the Silhouette blog and for the Twine I cut all the spools out of ordinary paper but for the Washi I used transparency.  Oh they look so whimsical - I totally love them. If you come back to look at my blog, I'll share some more transparency projects - I did a LOT of them while all the tools were out.

That's it!  I love Washi and now so can my friends - I'm giving away some to dear girlfriends as I don't think I'll ever use everything in my stash.  Also, some will be included in my updated version of the mini gift wrapping set. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today.  Please come back as I love to have playmates. Have a great day!

Hazel

Hallo Kitty Cat

Hallo Bloglanders.

I hope you are having a Terrific Tuesday! I'm at the beach house - sitting in the sun, drinking wine and eating seafood.  What more can a girl wish for?

Today I want to share how I converted a stamp to a die cut for my Silhouette.  Yes!!! You heard correctly, I did it all by myself.  I don't want to repeat things but the Silhouette software are very, very user friendly. You don't have to spend time and money on lessons - once you get started, it's easy peasy.

Here you can see one of the Kitty's that hopped onto my diary:

What 2 do:

Stamp your images in black ink on white paper.
Scan it and open the scanned image in Silhouette.
All you have to do now is to "cut and detach" and your cat image starts floating around your page.
Now you can do the cutting lines.
I did it by outlining my cats but I also did the offset option.  This worked much better as the whiskers that are very thin, now cuts out much better.
I actually like the offset one more.
"Print and cut" and it's done.

Pic 1. Shows my stamp, 2. the printed page ex my office printer. 3. the cut images ex my Silhouette and 4. the cut-outs done on the "offset" lines. My pictures are not the best but I used my iPhone - my real camera stayed at home.

Now I have Kitty Cats to use all over my cards, Project Life and layouts.

Thanks for looking at my blog today.  I'm off to have that glass of white wine on the "stoep"(non SA Bloglanders = sort of a porch) . Nothing like a bit of West Coast sun! Enjoy your day.

Hazel

Happy B-Day with my Silhouette.

Good morning Bloglanders.

I hope you had a fab weekend.  It was very cold and rainy in Sunny SA - we even had snow on the mountains.  I stayed indoors and did some crafting.

I had to make a birthday pressie for a little boy - never easy.  This is what I did:

I've made some "girly" ones before but this was my first go at a "boyish" look. It is a cappuccino cup filled with instant hot chocolate, marshmallows, chocolates, a heart shaped shortbread biscuit and a spoon. Everything you need for that perfect cappa.

Lucky me got a free apple cutting file from the Silhouette shop. I just added the message and everything were done in one go. The striped paper is ordinary, recycled gift wrap.  Cheap as you can get and I think it looks pretty good.

And another look at my pressie before it gets delivered:

Just a note: these are perfect for fairs, bazaars or charity sales - first to sell out!

That's it from me.  I'm off to get some household chores done.  Thanks for looking at my blog today and please come back to play.

Hazel

Embellishments Galore

Good morning Bloglanders

I hope you are well. It is very, very cold and wet in Sunny SA and I feel like heading straight back to bed BUT places to go, people to see and things to do.  Today I've got some eye candy to show.

When I buy something, I try to use it to save on something else. Here is what I made to save on embellishments for my projects:

I've used my Silhouette to "cut and print" the images and background. As I'm new to Sihouetteland I stumbled upon the "offset" button by chance.  This is the most wonderful function!!! It outlines your image and you can even choose how big the outline must be.  Here you can see how I did a fuzzy cut around images by using the "offset" button. Just remember to "no cut" the initial image!

I do like the little bit of white around my images - just makes them pop. Next week I'll show you how I did the Kitty Cats - I've done them from a stamp (not so DUMMY anymore!) and they actually cut much nicer on the offset line.

Back to my dimensional embellishments.  For my background image I moved the "offset outline", filled it with color and did the "print and cut" again. In between the two layers I've got pop dots to give the needed dimension.  I do get super excited when I think about everything I can do with this!

Here you can see a close-up of the sewing machine:

And, as always I packed some to give away:

That's it. Super easy, affordable dimensional embellishments!  I'm off to meet the people, see the places and do the "things".  Thanks for looking at my blog today.  I'm having a super, dooper blog month - all thanks to you.  If you need more info on how I did my DUMMY projects - let me know in the comments and I'll gladly help.

Have a great weekend and please come back to play.

Hazel

Playing games

Hallo Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Wacky Wednesday!!  It is very, very wet and cold in Sunny SA and I love every minute of it - boots, scarves, soup and lots and lots of fluffy blankets.  Do you still remember that I went on a loooooooooong holiday a while back?  I always make lists and one of the things on my "to do list" is to make some games to play in the car.

We used to have some when Pieter was little and still traveling with us but I can't even remember what happened to them.  So, I decided to do my very own.  Yes, they will be originals - given as pressies to family and friends. (and those grandchildren I'm going to have!!)

I'm here to show my first attempt:

It will work like "I spy with my little eye" - this one will be for numbers.  If you see a sign with a number first, you can put those circles on your board. Each player will have a board and numbers 1-9. Like "1-stop-shop". You can use the "1". First one with a full board wins and if only one plays - when your board is full, you get a treat! Makes me want to travel.

How did I do it?  I used my silhouette to "print and cut" and this time I didn't use any graphics except the font.  I did all the squares and circles on my own and even filled them with ice cream colors of my choice. Just shows that you don't need to buy a lot of cutting files - even a dummy like me got the hang of it.

Everything was printed on Silhouette magnetic sheets and cut.  This will make it perfect for travelling as the numbers stick to the boards.  And this is how they are stored:

I repurposed an old tin. What makes it great is that all the magnetic elements stick to the metal tin. When I add more games to my range, I'll punch holes and keep them together with a binder ring. Everything can fit into the tin and stay in the seat cover pockets of our car.

I'm off to do another game.  Thanks for playing with me.  Please check back as I have lots and lots more to share with you right here.  Have a great day!

Hazel

Layout with MME

Good morning Bloglanders

First of all - I've had the best blogging month since I started about 2 years ago. Thank you very much for all your support.  I really enjoy blogging about my crafty life and my blog motivates me to try out new things, to think up alternative ways to be creative and the best part - I get to finish about 5 projects each week!!

Now for my layout:

I started with Project Life last year and it's really intimidating BUT I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of things.  I don't do a page a week.  Too conventional for me. When I have pictures, I add them and at the end of the month - I go through my monthly file and add whatever I missed. (mostly the iPhone or iPad ones) I love layouts - I include at least 2 every month and I do mini layouts as fillers for my PL pockets. If you missed it and want to look, just click here.

Back to my layout.  I used 95% MME papers - some very old and some more recent.  The "other" 5% are recycled paper - the craft from a parcel I received and the cream from an old notebook. (one I actually used when I went to university - see the hole - 100% authentic) I used this sketch from MME as inspiration:

100% MME embellishments and the die cuts were done with old MME papers. I totally love that speech bubble with the heart. Here is a close-up:

And I totally forgot about my journaling - had to add a tag.  Bottom right you can see what I did it.

Now for the story. Wynand, Pieter and I have our birthdays within a fortnight. Each year I make a layout where I tell what we did on each occasion. This year we went "wedding venture hunting" and the pics in my layout is of  THE ONE.

Back to my papers.  I stumbled upon an old kit with papers from the Life Stories range - never heard of it before!  For the background I added woodgrain from Miss Caroline and the flowery paper is from Find your wings and Fly. I don't think I would ever have used this specific print but against all the muted colors - I LOVE it. Let me tell you a secret.  All these papers (except the woodgrain) were in my "use or lose" pile and I'm totally chuffed with myself for saving them.

Thanks for looking at my blog today.  Have a Terrific Tuesday and please come back to play.

Hazel

Back to School (or maybe not!)

Good morning Bloglanders

It is a beautiful, sunny, Sunday morning in Stellenbosch and I thought I'd show you what I did yesterday. Wynand went away on business and I had the whole day to spend on my own. This is what I made:

The idea of an art kit has been at the back of my mind for some time. Wynand and I went to a luxury lodge in the Cederberge a while ago and in each room they had a mini art kit.  I totally loved the idea and thought I would make one for my guest room. Just love the idea of my visitors having fun while being artistic.  I just couldn't decide how it should look like as I didn't want to buy a leather version like the lodge (much too expensive and un-creative for IMPERFECT ME). Then I saw this:

I love Twine from The Twinery and I love challenges BUT I don't have any children at school so I decided to make the challenge work for me. (and I'll show how you can easily adapt it for school).  Here is the one for my art supplies:

And the adapted version for pens, pencils and a notebook:

For those of you who want to make one - this is what I did:

Cut two rectangular pieces of fabric - I have laid everything out on my table and measured around it. Remember to leave some extra space for a "spine" for your folder if you want to add bulky supplies.

Cut one piece of iron-on batting slightly smaller than your cover pieces.

For the pocket I used the cover piece as a template - just added about a third to the width and subtracted about a quarter of the height.

Iron the batting to one of your cover pieces.

Fold over the top edge of the pocket piece. Sew in place.

Stitch the pocket piece to the outside of the cover piece (the one with the batting on). I did add a little pleat to one of the pockets - easy!  Insert the paint set and pin in place - then stitch. In my picture you can see it in my middle pocket. Cut the excess fabric from the pocket piece off (if you have any).

For the front I worked lines of twine over the whole piece - you can do whatever you want - I just liked the artsy, colorful look.

Now sandwich everything together.  Right sides to the outside.

Stitch around the whole thing - about 1 cm from the edge.

Trim the edges to about half a cm.

Zig-zag around the edges. I use a big zigzag and go around twice.

Actually, the folder is done now but I wanted to add more color (and twine, of course!). Blanket stitch all around to cover the zig-zags.

For a closure I added 2 buttons to the front and some multi colored twine to wrap around my folder.

A close-up:

This would make great gifts and to take along while traveling - the options are endless.  While everything is out, I think I'll do some more for my pressie stash.

That's it - 2 inspirations covered in one project!  I'm off for a walk in the park, a "braai" (barbeque for my non SA Bloglanders) and glass of wine on my "stoep" (porch).  Thank you for looking at my blog and please check back as I have a lot more to share right here.  Have a Sunny Sunday!

Hazel