Valentine's Day Treat Bag

In my previous post i mentioned the two competitions that i entered, and i totally forgot to post some pictures of the other item i made...  The theme was "Love & Lace", so i decided to make a little Valentine's goodie bag - i stamped and embossed the white dots onto the little red bag, added a doily, a medallion / rosette and a little stamped banner - and voila!!!  Easy peasy...

 

I love the way this one turned out - i'm sure anybody would be more than happy to get such a cute little goodie bag...

Quilt update:  just in case you thought that i have abandoned my project - NO, i have not, it's just taking wayyyyyyyy longer that i thought...  All the blocks (all 300 of them) are sewn together, and i've layered the back piece, the batting and the front block piece together - i'm still busy pinning this all together to hold it in place so i can start sewing, and then i just need to add the bias binding around the edge...  I will be working on this again tonight - i will be honest, i was very tempted to phone the quilting store today to ask if there would be anybody who would be willing to finish this for me, but i stopped myself from doing that - I started this project, and I will finish this project - even if it takes longer than i anticipated... So watch this space - one of these days i will feature my own handmade quilt...

Liesl

xxx

Cards and Competitions

Since a very young age, i've always LOVED competitions - doesn't matter what it is, i will always enter...  I remember my very first prize that i ever won, it was a doll - don't know what happened to the doll, but that was many moons ago...  I've won a couple of other items as well, but the doll i will never forget...

Anyhoo, two of my favourite stamp companies have competitions every month...  I've been trying so hard to enter, but i always start the project and never finish it...  So today is the day that i'm finally entering both competitions - can you believe, i actually finished my projects...  I feel like i have a gazillion projects that i'm busy with, but i don't finish anything - i was busy working on the two competition projects (which i actually finished - miracle), then i'm still busy with the quilt i'm making for Aiden's room, i'm working on a double page scrapbook lay out, i'm busy with some greeting cards that i want to send up to my sister, i'm trying my hand at applique (so much fun, but a lot harder than what i originally thought), oh, and some valentines projects for Aiden's school has just been added to the list - i'm sure i've left something out, but as you can see - i have MORE than enough to keep my busy for a while...

To my absolute shock and horror, i was just getting ready to submit my Papertrey Ink project, when i realised that the competition closed a couple of hours ago - honestly, i was very close to crying!!  I worked so hard on these cards, trying to come up with the idea, then putting your idea onto paper, etc...  But (luckily for me there is a but), they do have another option - a Colour Inspiration section, and one of my cards should qualify for that, so i'm still entering (even if it is only 1 of the 3 cards), so my heart is not feeling so heavy anymore... 

This is the card that i'm entering for the Colour Inspiration:

The stamps i used for this card is from the "sweet baby" stamp set, and i also used the genuine Papertrey Ink twine...

I might as well share the other two cards that i made - it was a sketch challenge, so they give you 5 different sketches, and you can pick whichever one to use as your inspiration, so you'll see i've used 3 different sketches for the cards i created...

 

 

This last card is so cute - i used the "have a ball" mini stamp set from Papertrey Ink - it was so nice to make a boy card for a change - i normally stick to pink and girly cards, so this was a nice change for me...

Well, i'm going to submit my entry now - so let's keep our fingers crossed...

Liesl
xxx

Update

Helloooooooooooooo... While i was blog hopping today, i came across the cutest video - even though they don't say a word, they get the point across in such a clever way...  This is sooooooo my tipe of video - i just had to share it here on my blog - check it out, it's worth it...  Oh, and i love the gift idea you'll see in this video...

There was also a link to another blog, where they have a tutorial for creating a stunning Blog Banner - so watch this space, there might be some changes soon (if i can figure out how to do it myself)...

Liesl
xxx

Baby Shower - Scrapbook Page

I was going thru all my crafting pictures and i came across this lay out, so i thought i would share this post quickly...  This year i'm definitely going to do more scrapbooking - that's how i got into the paper crafting hobby to begin with...  I've got a huge stack of scrapbooking papers that i need to use (maybe one day), but one can never have enough...

A while back my friend Olivia asked me to make a double page lay out that she can use as a gift for a baby shower that she was hosting...  Her idea was to have something that's got enough space for everybody to write a little something on the page, i.e. advise, suggestions, etc...

This is what we came up with:

I've been a busy little bee again - i'm busy making a quilt for Aidens room...  My mom & dad gave me a sewing machine for Xmas - sooooooo excited about that (thanks mom & dad xxx), and i've decided that my first project is going to the quilt... Yikes - no pressure!!!  I'll be honest, i didn't realise how much work actually goes into making a quilt, but i've started it, so now i WILL finish it...

I've been taking pictures of all the steps, so i can document the whole process right here on my blog - watch this space, hopefully the quilt will be done soon...

Liesl
xxx

Monster Alien Birthday Party

Ok, so first things first - Happy New Year everybody!!!  It's been way too long since i've posted (i feel like i always say that), but here's an update... 

We've had the most wonderful holiday - only one thing was missing - my family!!!  This year we're definitely going to make sure that we're all together on Christmas again - it just isn't the same without them...

I can't believe how quickly the holiday has flown by - three more days for me, and then it's back to reality...  We've been enjoying the sunshine, lazing by the pool...  We've been to the beach - Aiden is such a little surfer dude, with his awesome tan - he just loves the beach!!!  Here's a picture of him and Erin playing at the beach...  It was very windy yesterday, so not too many people at the beach...

I've been promising for a while to post Aiden's birthday pictures - and the time has come to do it!!!  We had such a lovely time, Aiden loved every minute of it...  I still can't believe that my baby boy is 5 already...

The party decor is obviously the part that i love - thanks to the very talented Lauren Mckinsey (click on this link - it will take you to her "think cute" website) who helped me with all the cute printables that i used for this party...  We're talking Talent with a capital T...  All her printables are just too cute - i even used them for our Xmas tags - look, isn't this just to die for!!!

Anyhoo, back to the Monster Alien Party - here are some pics of all the party goodies - it just screams awesomeness!!!

And the birthday cake and cupcakes were made by my friend Olivia - Cream Little Events...  If you want the party of all parties, please contact Olivia - she'll go above and beyond to make every party the best party ever...

The kids (and the adults) loved the cake - Red Velvet, or in this case "blue" velvet cake...  Yummy!!!

So that's about it for the party pictures, i've still got a gazillion more party pictures, but let's not overload the system - i think i've shared enough for now...  Phew, this was a big one...

I'm off to bed, sleep tight everybody!!

Liesl
xxx

Baby Shower - Scrapbook Page

The past couple of weeks have flown by way too quickly - i can't believe that in two days time it's Christmas...  This year Christmas is going to be bitter sweet - i will not be spending Christmas with my family - it's just going to be the 3 of us this Christmas...  But i'm going to be thankful, and try not to complain too much!!

I wanted to share a scrapbook page that i've made recently...  My sister asked me to make a scrapbook double page lay out for her sister in law...  It was her sister in law's baby shower - and this is what i came up with:
 

 

The paper i used is from the Country Drive collection by Echo Park...  I love all the colours - it just makes you want to smile...

 I love the little banners everywhere - it adds the "party / celebration" feeling...

 I added some dimensional stickers to make the banner stand out more - to create the 3D effect...

 The baby rattle and the tiny baby bottles on the two pictures below, were some of the decorations from the actual baby shower...  I asked my husband to cut off the back part of the baby rattle, so i could stick it onto the page - it think it looks super cute...

 

I really enjoyed doing this lay out - i must really try and do more scrapbooking again - i have a gazillion pictures that i can use, and a huge stash of scrapbook paper - so i have no excuse!!! 

My aim for the new year is to try and use up some of my "stock"...  Problem is that i just cannot stop myself from buying more and more scrapbooking stuff - i know, i know - i need to learn to control myself, but it's just so damn hard...

Next i'll be sharing some pictures from Aiden's birthday party - it was a huge success, so watch this space - i'll be back with some super cute Monster Alien pictures shortly...

Liesl
xxx

Christmas Fever

It is the MOST wonderful time of the year!!!  Finally, it's almost Christmas time and i cannot wait...  This is my favourite holiday of all - i love love love Christmas time...  Decorating the tree, listening to Christmas CD's, wrapping presents, etc...

So this past weekend we put up the Christmas tree...

 Every year i buy some more decorations, not because we need them, but because i want them...  It just seems that every year they come out with cuter ones than the previous year - and i just can't help myself...

Honestly, i am worse than a child when it comes to Christmas...  I've made my list, i've checked it twice, i've only been nice, so fingers crossed!!!

I've been very busy getting all the party goodies ready for Aiden's birthday - to my shock and horror i realised that the party is next weekend - so much to do, so little time...  I've tried my hand at baking, and i've failed miserably...  I must rather stick to what i know best, and that is paper crafts...  Baking is definitely not for me...  Tomorrow i will go into crisis mode, to try and find somebody to bake the cake and cupcakes, and make the monster cookies that i want...

Watch this space - it's going to be the most awesome monster party this town has ever seen!!!

Liesl
xxx