Sunday Summery Week 21

Hello Bloglanders

Today I'm here to share the recap of my Week 21.  I baked and I cooked!!! One of the things I'm trying to do this year is to try out more new recipes.  At LEAST once a week I page through magazines and cookbooks to find something new to try.

As I have a LOT of birthdays coming up, I decided to use my baking skills to create edible gifts. My sister's twin boys are turning 14 and as they both love coconut, I made tubs of Hertzoggies for each of them. Of course the third boy is getting one as well!!!!!!!

I even made customized tags with a rugby theme. I think this would be as much "gilyness" a 14-year-old would tolerate from his aunt.

I've put their names on the front of the "rugby shirts" and on the back it says "happy birthday".  I does look like real rugby jersey's doesn't it?

Here you can see it on the cookie tub:

My  mum is turning 77 on Sunday and even though she is getting a non edible gift, I did some cookies and rusks for her as well. Have a look at my cookie stash:

And I owed a friend of Wernich's a "thank-you-gift" and when I heard she wanted a water bottle for the office, I got hold of one immediately.

We have a glass factory in Stellenbosch and as I had to get some more solar lamps, I got the water bottle as well. It's beautiful, isn't it??

And the factory shop wrapped everything in white tissue paper, making it easier for me just to add a belly band, some twine and a handmade card. I used the inspiration from SimonSaysStamp's Wednesday Blog for this pressie.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

For the belly band, I used scrap copy paper from the office, black spray paint from Wynand's workshop
and a houndstooth stencil from my stash. I love how it turned out and it didn't cost me a thing!! Better even - I plan to use the same stencil on a layout SOON ................................ watch back and all will be revealed.

And the layout it's going on???? It's a free download from Amy Tangerine as part of her Design on Time series. Hop over and get one for yourself. Maybe we can compare notes .......... or rather - layouts!!

I'm off to get some work done. Next week I'm going on holiday and there is a LOT to be done before that. Thankfully, all my baking is done! Thanks for looking at my blog and please come back to play.

100 days of a Better Life

Happy Sunday Bloglanders

I hope you had a WONDERFUL week. I was busy but enjoyed every second!! And this is what my new mini book is about. Living life to the fullest.

Last week when I wrote my Sunday Summary, I realized that it's week 21 and the year is nearly halfway.  I had such high expectations of 2015 and nothing has been achieved. OK, not "nothing|" but not "enough" either. I told you before - I have high expectations of myself and of my life.

So, I decided to track the days I live up to half my expectations (even that is quite high) and jot down the dates in this pretty little mini book. I even made a little tracker sheet that matches the book and will fit into my Planner. More about that later .............................

I used pieces of scrap paper from my scrap pile to die cut the pages. Here is a better picture:

And as I used binder rings to keep the pages together, I can open up and add when I need more.  Even my letters are from leftover sticker sheets:

The circle tag is from Monika Wright's  iLoveitAll Etsy shop.I've been waiting for the right project to use this for some time.

As you can see, I'm still very much into my "fruity" colours but it's fall down under in Sunny SA, and having all these pretty, cheerfulness around makes life a bit more "springy".

And the inspiration for my mini book???? PaperCraftersCorner's Magazine Monday Week 100 challenge. I used the "100" and the colour scheme from this inspiration:

That's it .................................. I'm off to have a walk around my neighbourhood. It's totally awesome outside this time of the year!! Thanks for looking at my blog and have a wonderful, creative week.

Please check back - I'll be sharing a lot more of my crafting projects right here on Play as U GO.

Planner Page with Design on Time

Hello Bloglanders

Happy Wednesday to you all!! Today I'm sharing the latest Design on Time project - washi, post it note and magazine.  While I was watching the video, I had my planner open to jot down the "ingredients" and it just evolved into a Planner Page.

As you can see, I'm still into fruity colours.  I love the pineapple post it note (behind the photo) and took it as the inspiration for my page.  As it was one of my New Year's resolutions not to buy magazines, I opted for "this is the year" from Pinterest.

"This is the year" is a divider page and I move it around as needed. A good idea is to use two strips of washi back to back. That way you get the washi effect but it doesn't stick to your page.

The divider page even has a pocket - perfect for hidden journaling (and a movie stub). Beneath it all is a lot of "to do's", appointments and journaling.

Here you can see what's beneath the post it note.

And the page to the left of the divider:

I love it when my planner looks like me - dreamy, wild and a once-off!!

That's it. This project only took 10 minutes as the only things I added were the divider page, post it note and photo. I can't wait for the next Design on Time challenge.

Something else:  For those of you who love to sort your stash, I'm over at the Craft storage Ideas blog with a post called "Locker Love".  I did have a hidden agenda when I wrote the post - D R U M R O L L !!!!!!!! I'll be moving my whole fabric stash into lockers. YES, we have some empty storage space and it would look SO pretty and neat if I can fill it up with lockers. You will be the first to see ........................ of course!! And here is an appetizer of my CSi post and also my FAVE idea.

Thanks for looking at my blog today. I'll be back with a mini book for Magazine Monday later this week. Check back and all will be revealed.

PS. The post it note, mini alpha stamp set,fruit stickers and pineapple embellishment is from Typo.

Sunday Summery Week 20

Happy Sunday Bolglanders

Can you believe we are nearly halfway through 2015?? I still have so much to do!!

We had a busy week @ Hamman HQ. The office is busy, Wynand is busy and I'm trying my hand at a LOT of new things. Let's start with the food.  For Mother's day our Princess gifted me with Cafe de Paris butter:

It is truly GREAT and I have thought of eating it all on it's own ........................... yes!! I did. In the meantime I've used it in pasta, on fish and even with barbecue steak. Here is my Princess Pasta:

Homemade pasta with cream, Princess butter,chili compote and Parmesan. Wonderful ....................I loved it and had the whole bowl in one go.

And a new addition to our family - Wednesday. She is Pieter and his Princess's new kitten. She came from an animal shelter but in no time she will become a big, fluffy and much loved kitty. We love cats!

And I did a lot of crafting over the weekend. Finally, I've caught up with my Project Life pages. I finished this one late last night:

I love LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of pictures. For this layout I used 6x4 picture collages of our pets, food and Pieter's new flat. The only thing on the whole spread that didn't come from my "leftover" stash is the heart filler card. The rest was all hand / home made.

My inspiration came for PaperCrafter'sCorner Magazine Monday. And here it is:

I took the "fruity" colours and the circles to use on my layout. And as I said - everything came from scraps.

On that fruity, pink note - here is my homemade marshmallows. YUM!! You will see them again as I'm planning to make them for a upcoming barbecue party. Of course, I'll dress them up for the occasion but you will have to check back to see how it turned out. Or follow me on Instagram.

And Wernich had a weekend away with friends and caught a big fish!

Looks like I'll be needing some more Princess Butter.

That's it from me. Have a wonderful Sunday and thanks for looking at my blog today.

BIG news over at Craft Storage Ideas

Hi there Bloglanders

I just LOVE being a Craft Storage Ideas contributor!! Head over there to see the BIG news. Just click here.



I'll be back tomorrow with my Sunday Summary. Please check back to see what's on my crafting table. Have a happy, fun-filled, crafty, scrumptious Saturday!

Layout gone wrong - Fixed!!!

Good morning Bloglanders

Remember I showed my "layout gone wrong" yesterday?  Well, I fixed it and filed it away in my Project Life album.

As planned, I kept my idea of doing a pocket page of what is current at Hamman HQ. No pics, just journaling. However, the green and yellow was a bit too much so I swopped out my stenciled title with a more monochromatic look. I didn't re-do my page - just glued the new one over the old - love the texture. This time round I omitted the arrow stamps as the page was busy enough as is.

What a GREAT way to see what's wrong - take a picture and post it on your blog!!!

My inspiration came from Design on Time challenge with Heidi Swapp. The ingredients were - stencil, wood veneer and the Dymo. Most of my "stuff" came from my Amy Tangerine stash. If you look at this layout, you would think I've got a lot - No go. I've got 3 sheets of paper, some tiny puffy stickers, half a 6x6 paper pad and 6 flair buttons (now 5).  And I'm ready to go for at least 3 more layouts!

That's it - "Layout gone wrong FIXED".

I'm off to the office today and can't wait for the weekend to get some more crafting done. Check back and all will be revealed or follow my Instagram feed and you will see what I do.

In the meantime, have fun and craft on!

"Layout" gone wrong???

Happy Wednesday Bloglanders

Just a quick post to show what I've been up to.  The SimonSaysStamp Wednesday Challenge for the week is "Let's get Sentimental".  As I don't do cards, I decided to try my hand at moulding paste and make a Project Life title card.

Once a month I record what is current at Hamman HQ and I thought this mini layout would be perfect.  Everything that I've used, was out as I wanted to participate in this challenge. (Heidi Swapp: Stencil, wood veneer and Dymo)

I started out with a stencil from Wilna Furstenberg's Art and Design class, light molding paste and acrylic paint. Then everything was too white, so I added some yellow and I went on adding stuff until everything seemed all wrong. Wilna calls it "overworked". YES!!! My page is totally overworked but I decided to keep it like this, add it to the rest of my Project Life spread and maybe tone it down a bit. Normally I would just throw something out that does not meet my expectations but I decided to embrace my imperfections in 2015 so this one's a keeper.

Tomorrow I'll be back with my "layout gone wrong" - can't wait to see how it turns out. Check back and you will see ..........................

14 May 2015
And look @ me now!!

LINK

Happy Wednesday!

Design on Time - I love to SEW layout

Hello Bloglanders

I'm SO sorry for not putting up post every day but it's Fall down under in Sunny SA and the most beautiful days - we sit outside, eat outside and spend time on our porch and gardening. What more can a girl want?? You can even see the sunshine on my layout - if you've got it, flaunt it!!

I did get to the Amy Tangerine Design on Time Challenge #6. It's from Shanna Noel and you can watch the video here. The objects to use are paint (again!!), a list and fabric scraps.

By now I've learned that if you want to get a layout done in 15 minutes wet paint is not your best friend. SO,
I used black ink to do the stripes for my background. GREAT idea - it almost dries instantly!  My fabric strips were cut with my paper trimmer to speed things up and it ended up on a banner across my layout. I must admit, after 10 minutes of work, we had a power failure for more than 2 hours and I ended up typing my list as our computer system has backup batteries to keep it going.

At least it kept me busy!!! All in all I think I still would have finished in time but "load shedding" is here to stay so I did the best I could and finished up my project first thing this morning.

Now  for the story ............................................ I do love to sew but normally I only do it for myself or my daughter-in-law.  Last year I did a bit more than that - 21 outfits and that's only clothes. I also did LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of home ware projects. And this is the story behind my layout - more than 20 outfits in a bit more than 6 months and only 2 were for myself!!

Now, hop over to see what Amy and Jamie did with the same "ingredients".

I love a challenge and these Design on Time videos makes it SO much fun.  Thanks for visiting my blog today. I'll be back tomorrow with a "Moulding paste" project. Check back to see how it turned out!!

Mother's Day with Paper Crafter's Corner

Hello Bloglanders

Today I'm sharing my 2015 Mother's Day project.  YES, I'm sure you're totally bored with me telling you how sick my mum is. Let me give you the good news ................................ she is up and about and enjoying life to the fullest at the moment. Most probably this would be her last Mother's Day but I'm SO glad she got some life quality back that I'm just not going to think about the rest.

As my mum used to make all our clothes (and her own), I couldn't resist this 3D sewing box from  the Silhouette store. Inside are little spools for her latest embroidery project - a picture of the church in our home town, Vredendal.



I discovered WONDERFUL self adhesive, printable fabric sheets which dissolves in water once you've done your part. First for me and it works like a charm!

The little box was easy to make and I love how it turned out. If you want to watch Lori Whitlock's video on how to make the 3D Sewing machine box, you can get it here. You will see that I didn't use the cardstock spool as I had this pretty wooden one from The Twinery.

What inspired me???? You wouldn't believe me - this picture:

It's from Paper Crafter's Corner Magazine Monday challenge. I know!!! My project is nothing like the picture but that's me. I thought about everything my mum did for me - like making all my clothes, feeding us (and she HATES cooking), driving us to school, sport and friends. As I wanted to thank her with something she can actually use and enjoy at this point in her life, I came up with a "box" and an embroidery project and there you have it!

Most probably I'll end up making a whole goodie box for Mother's Day. Therefor, watch this space as I'll be back with an update.

That's it!! I'm off to get some office work done. Have a Thunderous Thursday and thanks for visiting my blog today.

Weekend Away Daybook for Project Life

Hello Bloglanders

I hope you are having a Marvellous May!!  We started out with a camping weekend near Ceres. For my non-South-African readers, here is a map and a bit about the little town. As always, I made a "daybook" for the trip.

I recycled pages from an old notebook, added a piece of cardstock to the back to make it more sturdy and used scraps to make tabs. I didn't even die cut the tabs - not time to waste!  Just cut a 1.5 x 1.5 inch square of scrap paper, folded it in half and used my corner rounder to round the folded edge / if you want a square tab - use as it is.

I even made some embellishments in advance.

One of my new years resolutions for 2015 is to use EVERY stamp in my stash. Can you believe it - I do have a few of them??? Well, this one from Cocoa Daisy is wonderful and I've never used it before!! Watch this space and you will meet again. I just stamped away on leftover watercolour paper, then punched it out with a 1" circle punch.

As always, I noted who went on the trip, what we ate, what we did, some funny (or not so funny) things about people and places - everything in one place - my Daybook. As I've already stamped my destination and date on the front cover, I don't need anything more as a title for my PL page. Even the journaling is done. More space for beautiful pictures.

Want a peek inside? OK, just a sneak. I'll be back with the Project Life page once my pictures are printed.

That's it. I'll be making the Most of Marvellous May - enjoying the beautiful Fall days down under in Sunny SA and using the time I have to play with my crafty goodies. Thanks for visiting my blog today. Have a wonderful week and please come back to play.

PS. This week the Wednesday challenge over at SimonSaysStamp is Anything Goes and my little Daybook will be joining in the fun over there. Hop over and see for yourself!