Leef Magazine Heart Competition

I just got all my things ready to do this post when I realized that everything is in Afrikaans, as it was sent in to Leef (a local South African) magazine... So sorry for those of you who don't understand the language, it's basically just about my idea, materials and methods used.

Soft and hug-able 

The competition entries have been posted on the Leef website, so let your fingers do the talking and vote for me at http://www.leef.co.za/articles/view/galery3  . You'll see a picture of my heart in galery3 keep your curser over the pic to see my name and leave a comment using my name as reference. 

Thanks for all your support

XXX

Hello Owly! Here You Are At Last!!!

In June I won a bundle of fabric from Haley's blog  thinkermaker . The reason I chose Bundle#1 was that each piece of fabric sent me on a trip down memory-lane and the pink one took me right back to when I was four... Oh, how I loved that room:)

I had told Hayley what I would make with each of the 3 pieces... The pink one's fate was to become a plushy Owl for my new niece, Leia. So I googled a few soft toys and owl images, made a photoshop-collage and started planning.

Off course I had to get some extra fabric to add to the look, and some coconut wood buttons for eyes...
After my planning and designing, I drew out a pattern on some old newspaper, cut the pattern out of the material and started the work! This project was my second ever sewing project, done with no help from experts. I was so surprised and delighted when Miss Owly was born, I didn't want to part with her.

I'm sure Little Lea will take good care of Miss Owly and that he will bring her great joy and make her some awesome memories... :) 

*Thank you, Hayley... If I hadn't won Bundle#1, I probably wouldn't have made Miss Owly.*

*WODAC EXPO*

Wow! World Of Dogs And Cats, what a great Expo-weekend! DOGBOXSTUDIO was there to share in the fun. What an awesome turnout!

  Here, David and I are hard at work...setting up and getting ready for the big event<3 DOGBOXSTUDIO offers specialized Pet photography, personalized greeting cards, button badges and more cool things your heart will desire... Oh, aren't these two director's chairs great? I made them from Old Blue Jeans... seriously, I did!

 Ewan Strydom(and his wife, Adrienn) from the Expresso morning show, won the Celebrity Challenge with this cute Shetland Sheepdog.

I've never seen so many different breeds of cats and dogs together in one place. There were big ones, small ones, furry ones and even hairless ones.

OH MY! I nearly forgot about Rommel! South Africa's own celebrity dog, the Toyota Boxer also made an appearance at the Expo this weekend!!!

Skermunkil!!! Yippee!!!

I know - I know, this post is long over due! We went to Muizenberg a while back to find Skermunkil. Katinka, a good friend of mine, had told me about the jewellery and that I would absolutely freek out! So I did a google search on Skermunkil and found Marietjie's blog, eendag op n reendag . What an inspiring blog. When I found out that there was a shop, I just had to go there.

So off we went to Muizenberg armed with our GPS and an address I got off Marietjie's blog. When we "arrived at destination" we found the place rigged with one-ways and closed off roads and suddenly Miss GPS didn't know where to go. So we went round and round the block until we eventually found a narrow little ally, which seemed to be the only way in... And there it was!     

 Isn't it just gorgeous!!! One day is one day and then I want a shop just like this beauty! Wow:P  The ice-cream colours, the wood-work, the touch of nostalgia and off course the JEWELLERY! Oh my! I want them all. I want to have a whole farm full of little Skermunkils!!!  

 I was even so fortunate as to meet Marietjie and her crew. I was so overwhelmed that it wasn't until I got home that I realized that I never asked David to take a picture of me with them. And isn't this just the coolest dog? 

Me & my Dave

This little Skermunkil hid away from me and surprised me on our 3 year wedding anniversary! Now it's mine, my PRECIOUS!!! 

It is so pretty! I just want to stare at it all day long... the craftsmanship is amazing! 

Plastic milk bottle mobile...

In one issue of the Ideas magazine(http://www.idees.co.za/), there was an article on recycling plastic milk bottles. They gave four templates which could be cut out of the bottles, hung with string from a smooth organic stick and functions as a room divider. So this got my creative juices flowing...

 To make your own recycled plastic heart mobile you will need:  

white plastic milk bottles, a permanent marker, a strong-sharp-needle, a thimble, a keyring, a pair of scissors, thread, string, beads and buttons in the colour of your choice.

 *With your marker, draw out the shape onto the plastic bottle(you can use any other template if you wish). 

*To make it easier to cut out the heart, I have cut the bottom of the bottle off first.

 Cut as many shapes as you want...

*Measure out the length of sting you want to use, neatly knot it around your keyring 

*From the other side of your string, thread a bead and make a knot for it to sit on, leave a space and make a knot where your shape will be placed(repeat this for the amount of beads and shapes you want on your mobile. 

*Now, using your needle and thimble, make holes in your shapes keeping an even distance between holes. Remember to make holes for your buttons as well.

 *Thread your needle with your favourite colour, make a small knot at the end and start threading through the holes you have made. 

*With the same thread, sew the heart onto your string(above the knot) through the button.

...and there you have a fresh, GREEN, present to give to someone special...or you could just keep it for yourself, hehehe!

Yummy Hash Hearts

These came out so pretty I just had to share it! One night I told my Hubby I feel like making PRETTY FOOD tonight. My gran(we call her Ouma Pollie) gave me a bunch of recipe's which she'd torn out of some old 80's You-magazines and there I discovered a potato hash brown recipe. It took us a few hours to prepare this lovely meal...

 ...and when we we're done Dave(www.badenhorstphotography.co.za )just had to photograph it!

The hash browns were delish but I still need to work on my combination of tastes. I put sour cream and sundried tomatoes in between but it needs something more salty. Perhaps next time I shall try something cheesy.....mmmmm, yum!  

Blue Bottle Throw

When I first heard my parents were moving to the coast, my thoughts went to the bag of old, used blue wool I had collected through the years. I started making a house warming gift with the sea theme in mind... using three different square patterns! 

This gift took quite some time to finish as I only worked on it at night and my wool kept disappearing! After my stash was finished, I had to go out to buy more wool about 4 times...

It was worth it, though! Just look at it, sitting pretty. This is the biggest piece of crochet I have ever made! It really reminds me of Blue bottles with their brilliant blue tentacles.

Leia's cozy blanky

When my Brother's baby arrived, I started this cozy creation! Every winter baby needs a cozy blanky. I wanted to make a simple, continuous square blanket. I just couldn't find a pattern anywhere. So I stumbled upon a pretty bubble square pattern and just modified it into one big square until a blanky was born...

Pretty wool:)   

This one took about a week and a half...it looks like a fairy forrest in Spring.

*Oh so soft and cuddly*

Just for you, Little Leia(and mom, Tricia) 

Chunky Granny Blanky:)

Upon visiting my Gran(on my Father's side), I was given a bag full of wool that she didn't have use for anymore. I never say no to any hand-me-downs! So when she asked me what I was doing to do with the wool, my brain started spinning. I then came across a huge crochet hook at a little shop called Allerlei, in Kleinmond where my grand parents stay. Needless to say... I bought it immediately! I went back to my Gran's and asked for a crochet pattern book, I found this Granny Square pattern and......take off!

I just couldn't stop!

I crochet till the early hours of the morning, it's really addictive!  

So about two and a half weeks later(I only worked on this at night) I finally had a Chunky Granny Blanky:)

Recycled Paper Badges

Some time ago a comment posted on Hayley's blog, Heidi&Seek(now http://thinkermaker.com.au/), inspired me. In the comment, the follower asked what she could do with all her old magazines and that got me thinking. There are so many things you can do with paper! I had a heap of old Getaway magazines that were on their way to being recycled. I paged through them and thought, "why not make recycled, home grown South African badges?" and so I did. I tore out all the pages with images on that were small enough to fit onto my badge size...

1) I cut the images into smaller pieces and used my little die-cutter to cut the circles.

2) I put the backing of the badge face down in the back slot of my button-badge-maker and the front-piece, the picture and then the plastic cover, in the front slot.
3)The slot with the picture slides in underneath the punch and the lever is pulled down and lifted. The slot with the backing is then slid underneath the punch, the lever pulled down and lifted.
4)When the last slot is slid out, the badge is complete.
5)A pretty recycled-magazine-paper-badge!

6)Now repeat steps 2 through to 5 as many times as you want.     

I just love recycling! Not only is good for your planet, it also makes for great fun-filled projects and minimizes consumerism. I have a lot more paper craft projects coming your way, so be sure to keep an eye on my blog :)

Bellbottoms:P

This "outing" happened some time in June, when we were still staying in Pretoria. Bellbottoms is one of my favourite antique shops in Pretoria! When you walk into the shop, you are greeted by a friendly shop owner, the smell of old dusty antiques and the sound of an antique Gramophone playing old records. Here you can find anything your 'antique-loving-heart' desires, from old tins to old-school sweets. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me that day, but I took some pics of my lil' package as soon as I got home that day...

Oooohhh....brown paper packages! I probably spent an hour scratching around in a big old glass jar to pick out these pretty vintage buttons. Mr. Kudu here, was part of a Coca-Cola wild animal collection. The shop owner told me that, back in the day, you got a token in the bottle-top of your buddy-coke which you then handed in at the local cafe to collect your little animal.     

It's a couple of squirrels!!! See how pretty they piece together:) These little critters came from inside a Dairy Bell ice-cream, or so I've heard...also part of a collection.   

Whoo-hoo? Little Miss Owl, was hiding in the display case at the counter, waiting just for me to sniff her out. She's such a finely painted pebble, I wonder who found this pebble and thought "you shall be an owl".

Peaches, nickerballs and milk toffees! Yum! I just love these old-school sweeties, he-he:) Half of these went straight to my tummy and the other half went to Dave's tummy.What an Awesome way to end the day.

Just check this out:P

This music video is just an absolute work of art! I know this might seen weird, but the music of Regina Spektor keeps finding me. I accidentally recorded "fidelity" onto a video cassette a few years ago and that song and music video has given me such inspiration. An old friend of mine created a play list for me and the song "us" just took my breath away. A few weeks later I found that "raindrops" was also in that play list. So having three song replaying in my head constantly, I found this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzrC72Xv6pE, one on youtube. It is really AWESOME:)      

My First Felted Beadies:)

In the month of July, I found a few pieces of mohair fiber. As I don't have a spinning wheel and can't do any thing else with the fiber, I thought I'd try my hand at felting. Knowing the basic principles of felt-making, I thought it would be quick and easy. I found d.i.y. instructions, on how to make felted beads, on the Net and I was all set. So I took my pieces of mohair, a bowl of hot steaming water and a bar of soap out onto the veranda and started with the steps I had printed out.

Step1: Take your piece of fiber with wet, soapy hands and roll between hands to form a snake. Do not let the fiber foam-up. So that didn't work! I then dipped the fiber in the hot water, burning my fingers and rolled the soapy fiber between my hands.
Step2: Cut the snake into even pieces and rub the edges in the palm of your hand, in circular movements. When I tried that part, the fibers came loose and went all over the place! So, I tried layering the cut pieces with wet-webbed pieces of fiber and rolled it into balls in the palm of my hand. I stood out on that veranda 'till the sun went down, rolling, rolling and rolling... When I finished, my hands were so sore. I looked at the instructions again and realized that I had to use Merino wool and not silky mohair.

The next morning I was quite chuffed with my handful of felted-mohair beads, although at the back of my mind I was thinking "Is this it?! Is this what I spent my whole Sunday afternoon on?"

After having left the beads out in the sun to dry, I took some string and a needle and started to thread the felted beads and buttons until I used up all the felted beads. I tied the end and I now have a beautiful felted necklace:p 

Wolves, YAY!!!

Friday 25 June, we went looking for Wolves Cafe and could'nt find it. I was terribly disappointed as we were moving to the Western Cape and I didn't know when I would get the chance to go there again. I checked on Wolves site again, posted a comment and got a reply from Angie(lucky pony) with the directions. We went back to Johannesburg for the last time on Friday 2 July and we found it!!!Yippee:-))

I really-really wanted a moustache in my hot chocolate with a slice of red velvet cake, yum!  The shop is sooo pretty and "homey". I love every little detail, the Wolves mugs and mixed antique plates and spoons... I love it, love it, love it!

We were greeted by friendly staff and I almost fell off my pretty chair when our waiter placed a Tree-level-red-velvet-cake on the table in front of me. It was delish! And although it was way too much for my tummy, I ate everything right down to the last crumb.

I first came to know of Wolves when I stumbled across Lucky Pony where I saw HelloFox, so it was quite obvious that I left Wolves with my own Fox... Happy as a Foxy:-P