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

My Alternative Easter Decor

Hi there Bloglanders

Today I brought my Easter project to share with you  .................... SO not bunnies and hot cross buns!!

Remember my solar jars?? My friend, Marelize gave them to me for my birthday and I totally love, love, love them. So, I thought as we don't have children at home any more, I'll skip the Easter eggs and fill my solar jar with food for thought.

I used a cutting file from the Silhouette store.  You can make your own - it's quite easy but as the image was on special and I had some shop credit left, I splurged out and bought it. The three crosses are on a hill in the image which works very well. I've cut a cube of  florist foam with my kitchen knife, made a slit on top and slipped my cut-out in to keep it upright.  Then into the jar and covered it with moss.

The whole thing took less than 5 minutes and it's now hanging on my entrance gate. At night the solar light makes it look beautiful and authentic.  I'm not sure about my photo taking skills but I'll try to capture it for you. Watch this space.

If you haven't stocked up on Easter goodies yet, I recommend you consider my minimal approach. Use what you've got and just pretty it up with the goodies and tools you already have.

That's it. I'm off to do some living!! Tanks for looking at my blog today and please come back to play.

Hazel

PS. Here is the image I've used:

LINK

Shape ID: 40446

A Month in Review - April 2014 Calendar dowload

Hi there Bloglanders

I hope you had a wonderful, happy weekend doing things that you love.  In my previous post, I sorted all my leftover Project Life kits into a system that works for me.  In the process I ended up with a lot of bits and bobs and there and then I decided to do a layout using them.

I did the layout in Photoshop but you can do it in any other program - I even own a stencil that does a month in one 12 x 12 page. I totally love month-in-review pages. For this print, I omitted the photos and numbers as I wanted to use my scraps AND was looking for a layered look - you can go 100% digi if you want to. After printing, I added everything left on my desk - pictures, numbers, scraps and embellishments galore!!

As part of my PL album I normally do a monthly review page but it's not always as elaborate as this one - sometimes I only use a tag or a journaling card but I loved this one SO much that I decided to give it another go for April 2014.

If you want to try - I brought my files to share. A Photoshop version with slots for your pictures as well and a JPG version where you can add as you go. Remember, IMPERFECT ME loves to share but it's only my version and you might find it lacking - I'm no graphic designer!! If you try it, leave me a comment, I would love to peek at how yours turned out.

Here are the links for the downloads:
PSD Link here
JPG Link here

I'm proud to say that for the first time since I started PL in 2011, I'm up to date.  I think it's easier since I decided to chuck the weeks and just print, paste and journal as I go.  It's a more "monthly" approach but it works for me.

Thanks for visiting my blog today. Have a happy week and keep trying new things.

Hazel