Naturally Me Creations

Post-it Holder

2012-01-22T22:48:00.002+02:00

While visiting some other blogs today, I got a really cute and fun idea for a post-it notes holder for your desk. I got the idea from Sarah from Dotted Line Crafts! Here's my version:

I've had this plastic photo frame in my cupboard for years, but I didn't want to use it for displaying photos 'cause....I think it's a little tacky for my taste, plus it's a little damaged. But today I got this really cool idea. :D (another reason why I'm glad I'm a hoarder - I knew I'd find an interesting way to use this sooner or later!)
I took some scrapbook paper and placed it in the holder behind the frame. I actually wanted to use something damask-y in black & white, but I didn't have anything. :( And as impatient as I am, I couldn't wait to go out and buy one, so I used the next best alternative that I had...

I only had a scrap piece of this paper left, which is why the bottom part of the frame didn't have any paper behind it:

But not to worry, I came up with a plan. I wrapped some black ribbon around the bottom:

And decorated it with a ribbon bow i made:

I like black & pink together, hence the pink bow (in real life it's dark pink-ish, not red).

Instead of gluing my post-it note pad directly to the frame, I decided to make a little box to hold the notes in - that way I could reuse it over and over and over and over....

I then inked the box with a blank stamp pad, and glued a pink flower on the front to cover the staples, and hot glued the box to the frame:

Is this cute of what?! Thanx for the idea Sarah, I love it! :)
Oh yes, and I also added some pink blings at the top:

This was my second attempt at glueing the box to the frame. The first time round the glue got cold and it didn't stick, so the second time I was in a rush to position it just right, and of course rushing such a job just doesn't work, so I stuck it on a tad skew - which I'm very miffed about. :/ But oh well, who's judging?

Now I just need to tidy my desk so that I can actually SEE my cute little holder!! :)

Linked up at these LINKY PARTIES:
Sugar Bee Crafts .

Dishwasher Sign - Clean or Dirty

2012-01-22T17:02:00.000+02:00

The other half doesn't always do a thourough inspection in the dishwasher before putting more dirty dishes inside, which means that I sometimes have remove said dirty dishes from a load of freshly washed clean dishes. (no, i don't always remove the clean dishes *immediately*, but that's not the issue at hand right now).

SO, to make both of our lives easier, I finally made a sign for our dishwasher (I've been threatening to make one for a some time now). :)

It's nothing overly fancy, but it's going to do the job just fine.
I used a paint colour sample swatch for the yellow background paper and some patterned scrapbook paper for the green border. I inked some of the edges too. I just handwrote the "clean" & "dirty".

I glued on some magnetic strips to the back so that it would stick to the washer:

And I used a glass pebble with decoupaged scrapbook paper behind it (which I made long ago and haven't yet found a purpose for, until today) as the movable "marker" - I glued a magnet behind the pebble, so now I can move it next to the appropriate word to indicate the SITREP (situation report, haha) in the dishwasher:

Lastly, I added some kitchen / dishes-themed buttons to decorate the sign with. And ta-da! :D

Linky up to these LINKY PARTIES:
Scrappy Gifts The Tattered Tag
I Heart Nap Time Be Different Act Normal

My sign was featured at Scrappy Gifts! :D

Cute Home Decor

2012-01-18T15:28:00.000+02:00

Because our house is not always spotlessly clean and tidy, I've always thought this little saying really cute:

Our house was clean yesterday, too bad you missed it.

So I finally made one for our house. :D

I started out with this board that I bought at the craft store, but didn't yet know what I wanted to do with it...just knew it was something I could do something with:

I painted it with a metallic mink craft paint and inked the edges with a dark gold ink pad. I chose which papers to use, printed the saying on one of them, chalked the edges and decoupaged them onto the board:

A few months back I decoupaged some scrapbook paper designs to the back of some glass pebble, but ended up not using them, and they've been lying on my desk since then, so I thought it'd actually go well on here:

And then I bought the cutest little mini hats and decided to use one of 'em here - I attached a mini clothing peg to it, inked the one edge of the peg with dark brown ink pad for some colour, and hot glue'd the whole lot onto the board:

And I added a cute twig heart too:

And my sis gave me some cute buttons for my b'day a while back - I finally found somewhere special to use them! :D I just had to cut off the button holding thingies at the back (you know those half loops that you sew the buttons on with). The one on the right is my favourite. :)

Now I just have to find somewhere to hang it up. It think it turned out SO cute. (of course I would though, I made it) :P

Linking up to these LINKY PARTIES:
I Heart Nap Time          The Tattered Tag
Scrappy Gifts    A Vision to Remember
Sugar Bee Crafts           Be Different Act Normal

Another Welcome Door Sign

2012-01-11T12:40:00.000+02:00

I made 2 welcome door signs as gifts this Xmas (the first one is here).
I used hard board (?) for the background and some of the flower decorations, painted it all, varnished them with spray paint and glued everything on. Here's how it turned out:

I also glued on some fabric flowers and used blings for their centres and a glass pebble for the centre of the larger flower:

Some of the wood cut out flowers I didn't paint, because I thought they looked pretty as is, so I just glued them on as they were.

I rounded off the background with some gold paint that I just brushed all around the edges.

I glued on cute little plant pot goodies and filled them with paper roses.

After spraying on the first coat of varnish, and while it was still wet, I sprinkled some glitter onto the letters. When it was dry, I varnished it again another 2 times to seal the glitter on properly.

Some of the wood cut out flowers I painted - I bought different sizes of the same flowers and glued them ontop of each other to layer them:

These welcome signs are so much fun to make. :D Hmmmmm......who else can I gift one to.....

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More Xmas Tree Decorations - A Bit Late, But Oh Well

2012-01-11T11:00:00.001+02:00

Shew, haven't had much time for posting around here since Dec - I was so busy then. But I made 2 more tree ornaments that I haven't posted yet - ornaments that I decorated or made in the spirit of my Totally Handmade Xmas Tree Decorations Pledge. :D

I made this at the last minute in an attempt ot make the tree look more full of decorations, and to add some more "shiny" to the tree. So I glued a mini gift bow to a mini wood slice and added a silver string with which to hang it with. Not my most inventive creation, but I was desperate and had run out of time to think up something cuter, hehe.

And then I also wanted to redo some plain baubles that I had and spice them up a bit:

I decoupaged them with pieces of white mulberry paper:

Added some red lace ribbon from my scrap ribbons stash, as well as a white organza ribbon bow, and voila!

So that was IT as far as my Xmas tree decoration went. :) This year I'm going to be making some more, I need some bigger items to fill up my tree more.

Digital Party Invitation

2012-01-09T10:52:00.001+02:00

I made this invite for my parent's 60th b'day party later this year, using MyMemories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Software - there are so many things you can do with this other than scrapbooking. :D This was very handy, since the invites all went out via email.

What's fun about this software is that you can take designs and pictures from anywhere (I got this background design from the net) and incorporate them into the program - you're not bound to only use their pictures and backgrounds.
The flowers are from their program and I was able to use the program as well to design the wording, eg the "60" I made 3D and I could bend the wording too to form an arch.

Anyway, just thought I'd show what else you can do with this software. Another idea coming soon! :D

P.S. remember that if you want to buy this program, use my special discount code in my right side bar over here somewhere ----->, and you'll get $10 off!

Crafty Recycling: Vitamin Container to Gift Box

2011-12-19T15:20:00.000+02:00

I've been keeping some of these empty vitamin containers, knowing that I wanted to use them as little gift boxes, so I converted the first one as a gift box for a beaded bookmark I made:

This is how it started off, a plastic container with a snap-on lid - I just had to remove the sticker label:

I tore up white mulberry paper into small pieces and decoupaged them all around the container:

I painted the top white plastic at the top, just to give it that extra hand-made look (instead of having a piece of bare plastic):

To decorate the lid, I used a little decorative circle design plate with my Cuttlebug, cut it out with scalloped scissors and glued it on top of the lid:

Then I just tied a white ribbon around the top and added a beaded dangly to decorate the gift box - the beads that I used for this decorative dangly matches the beads that I used for the bookmark that I'm gifting inside (except for the angel goodie - I just added that for the Xmas touch.) :)

LINKED UP to these linky parties:
C.R.A.F.T. Making the World Cuter
Vintage Wanna Bee .

Welcome Door Sign

2011-12-18T11:13:00.000+02:00

I thought I'd make a welcome door sign for my gran for Xmas. I think it turned out quite cute, but it looks a little "girly"...I dunno if she'll like it, but we'll give it a try. :)

No it's not spelled wrong...my gran's Afrikaans. :)

I painted the background with a metallic mink paint, and the letter with pink paint, obviously.
I used some "touch 'n glow" copper coloured product to the letters, you use this to add some accent to things, and then I spray painted it with varnish and added some glitter while it was still wet, then varnished the letters again to seal on the glitter:

I added a cute little 3D flower pot with mini roses, as well as a cute little bee:

I thought this is a cute "centre piece" goodie

I had to do *something* around the edges of the board because it looked bland, so I added more of the "touch 'n glow" copper product all around the edge, but it still looked kind of bland, SO then I painted the edge with gold paint as well - I think it looks alright now:

After hot-glueing the wooden letters on, I spray varnished the whole thing to help seal it. Then I just hot-glued everything else on, including some pretty paper flowers and plastic leaves (they're actually more maroon in real life, but they look red here) -

Now I just have to drill 2 holes at the top so that I can add a jute hanging thingie so we can hang it on the front door.

LINKED UP at these linky parties:
I Heart Naptime             Be Different Act Normal
A Vision to Remember   Tatertots & Jello
Vintage Wanna Bee    .

Xmas Tree Decorations

2011-12-10T09:42:00.001+02:00

This year I decided, for fun, that I'd only decorate my tree with ornaments that I've made. :D Ok, so it's not as sparkly as it always used to be, but at least I can look at it and say I made it all, which is much more fun, eh? :)

Here's my tree....somehow December sneaked up on me this year, so I haven't fnished making all the ornaments yet (I'm still busy making some), so I'll post my updated tree as soon as I've finished my other ornaments. :)

The big star hanging above the tree I got from Birgit's Daily Bytes, and it's so easy to make. I had a hook in the ceiling so I just hung it up from there and placed the tree underneath, hehe.

I also suddenly realized that I didn't have a topper for my tree, and it looked quite odd without one, so I made a little angel to put on top. Not my best work, but desperate times call for desperate measures:

I used a small styrofoam ball to make the head, and glued one different lengths of gold "string" to make the hair. I folded a piece of ordinary white paper into a cone for the body / dress. I stuck a toothpick in the head and inserted it into the top of the cone, then cellotaped and glued the toothpick to the inside of the cone to secure the lot. I drew on some designs with a glue pen and sprinkled on gold glitter, then finally wrapped some gold ribbon around neck. Well, it'll do for this Xmas. :) This was far to finicky to make, so I won't be doing that again!

And then here are some of the ornaments I made last year and thought out this year:

My glittered wooden star ornaments. I made them HERE.

I made these ornaments from old Xmas and b'day cards...I made them HERE.

These beaded loops with the bells I made HERE.

I collected a whole bagfull of pinecones at our family farm last year Oct. I spray painted some of them gold last year for decorating the table for Xmas lunch, but this year I just placed them in the tree to add some more colour.

I made some beautiful snowflakes too, and you can find the link to the pattern in my post HERE.

I made some more beaded loops for the tree, but replaced the bells with angels this time. I made the little angels as well by using little wings, a lovely filigree bead as the body and a cracked glass bead for the head. Easy peasy. :) I also used earring hoops this time instead of memory wire as with my other beaded loops above - I find using these earring hoops MUCH easier that the memory wire - it costs a bit more, but oh well, it's worth it. :)

And I made these recycled little prezzies for the tree HERE.

And finally I made these crystal danglies. I haven't made a post about them previously. I just used tigertail wire and threaded on a filigree bead and clear acrylic beads, and secured them with crimp beads. I made a loop at the end of the danly with the tigertail and attached another dangly to the bottom - for the dangly I added 2 sizes of acrylic bicones onto a head pin. Lastly I used some irridescent "string" to make a little bow with.

And that's my tree so far! Now I have some more Xmas gifts to wrap and then I need to get on with the rest of my ornaments! :D

All these ornaments were made with my Totally Handmade Xmas Tree Decorations Pledge - if you wanna join in this year or next year, grab my badge here (just scroll to the bottom) and remember to let me know if you made any of your own Xmas tree decorations! :)

Linked up at these LINKY PARTIES:
Cup of Delight Sew Stylish Boutique

Gift Wrapping

2011-11-27T19:49:00.001+02:00

It was my mum's b'day last week and I wasn't in the mood to wrap up her gifts in boring old gift wrapping paper, so I came up with this idea to wrap a tin of hot chocolate:

I used some scrap strips of black lace that I had and just wrapped it around the tin until it was all covered - I didn't even need to glue it or anything, the lace just stuck together well enough. I tied around a pretty gold ribbon and made a paper flower to decorate.

To make the flower, I cut out several circles of patterned paper, all of them slightly smaller than the previous one. I cut them out with scalloped fancy scissors. Then I sprayed each circle with some water, crumpled it up to give it some texture, and unfolded it again, then I just layered the circles and pinned them together with a brad.

To cover the top of the tin, I cut out a circle of black paper the size of the tin, inked it with some black ink because it wasn't black enough, distressed the edges, stuck it on the tin and added a little name tag thingie on top.

I made her some earrings too, and made a little gift box to put them in:

I used a gift box template, so if you would like this template, just email me! :)

To round it off I just tied a ribbon around the box and added a bead to each loose end. Just to show how small it is:

Cute, huh? :D

And the Winner is........

2011-11-26T17:59:00.001+02:00

And the winner of the MyMemories digital scrapbooking software is.........................................................................................................
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Maryanne from Scrappy Gifts with her lucky no. 19 comment!! :D I know you're going to love this software!!! :D Congrats Maryanne! :) Please contact me within 7 days. And thanx to My Memories for sponsoring this prize!

Thanx to everyone else who entered...I wish I could give all of you this awesome prize! BUT you never know.....maybe....just maybe there'll be another giveaway in future....I guess you'll have to stay tuned to find out!! :P

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MyMemories Digital Scrapbooking Giveaway Part 2 - More Ideas

2011-11-15T18:05:00.001+02:00

Here are some more layouts I made using the MyMemories Suite v2 digital scrapbooking software - the same software that you can win in my giveaway HERE, sponsored by My Memories! (it closes on 19 November, so you still have a few days left to enter if you want to win this incredibly fun prize!) :)

There are hundreds of ready-to-use designer layouts to choose from, like this next one below - all the work is already done for you, all you have to do is add your photo (the only goodies I added here is the flourish at top left, and the butterfly):

And then there are probably thousands of unembellished background papers to choose from, where you can add your own embellishments...like the old-fashioned scrapbooking way. :) I used a batty background paper and added all my own embellishments and frames here:

This digital scrapbooking software is quite addicting, I must have you know. :)

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My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking Giveaway!!

2011-11-13T13:17:00.001+02:00

It's giveaway time! :D

***CLOSED***

Winner will be announed on 26 or 27 November

And it's courtesy of My Memories, creator of My Memories Suite digital scrapbooking software. If you've never tried digital scrapbooking before, now's your chance to give it a go, as we're giving away this software worth $40 to one lucky person! See entry details below!

To be honest, I never thought I'd like digital scrapbooking, since I prefer working with real papers and embellishments....but I decided to give it a try because there seemed to be quite some hype about it. To my surprise, not long after getting started, I actually thought it was good fun! :) And here are some of the reasons why:

1.   there are hundreds of gorgeous decorated background designs to choose from...and I do mean gorgeous!

2.   there are tons of lovely embellishments and designs to further decorate your pages with - many of them look quite realistic too, and all you do is click on the desired embellishment to select it, and then drag it to where you want it on the page

3.   it's so simple to incorporate your photos onto your page, literally as easy as 2 double-clicks

4.   and then there are other fun things to do such as creating your own background designs from scratch, and you get to resize and flip over and spin around your embellishments which ever way you like - which does have it's advantages over manual scrapbooking :)

5. and your embellishment stock NEVER runs empty! Once you've got the embellishment, you can use it as many times as you like on as many layouts as you like - how's that for saving some money compared to old-fashioned scrapbooking. :) Plus there are many other fun features and I can't mention it all here!

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And besides this super giveaway, there's an additional bonus for all my readers! :) If you're not the lucky winner of this free digital scrapbooking software, you can still buy the My Memories Suite software for $10 off the normal price, but only if you use my special discount code: STMMMS59694
My special discount code will remain in my right side bar over here somewhere ----->, so whenever you're ready to buy this amazing software at this special discount price, just grab the code! :)

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But now back to the giveaway........

Here are some samples of what I've been doing with the My Memories Suite software (click on the images to see them enlarged!):

It really is a lot of fun to work with! I'm definitely a new fan of digital scrapbooking, and although I'll never give up real paper scrapbooking altogether, I will be spending lots more time playing around with my new software... :)

(What's also nice is, is that it's all digital, so even if you make a spelling mistake - like I did up there in case you noticed - it's easy to fix it up before printing) Hehe.

So if you'd like to win this awesome prize, this is what you need to do - each point qualifies you for ONE entry into the draw, so if you complete all the points, you get 3 entries into the draw!

1. you must be a follower of my blog; I want to see your photo in my followers list in my left sidebar ;) - leave me a comment saying that you're a follower (even existing followers need to do this, otherwise you won't be entered into the draw);

2. visit My Memories, then leave me a comment naming your favourite digital paper pack or layout;

3. using the linky below, submit a scrapbook layout that you've created, (paper or digital layouts welcome) OR if you're not yet a big scrapbooker, you may submit any craft that you've created using scrapbook or patterned paper, and then leave me a comment saying which one you submitted - any crafts not meeting these qualifications will be deleted. :(

GOOD LUCK! :)

P.S. - I'll be annoucing the winner on 26 November (going on a little vacation from 20-25th), so if I don't have your contact details, please check back around that time to see if you're a winner! If you don't come and claim your prize within 7 days, I'm going to choose another winner! Tnx!

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Crafty Recycling - Xmas Tree Decorations

2011-11-06T15:10:00.001+02:00

This is another craft as part of my Totally Handmade Xmas Tree Decorations Pledge for 2011. :D

I got this cute idea from City Girl Gone Coastal, and I thought it'd make really cute Xmas tree decorations. So I went looking in some boxes in our storage room to see if I could find styrofoam, and guess what?!

I found some and decided to sit in the sun and cut it up. It's such a lovely day today outside!
My kids kept me company...

I recycled some used Xmas wrapping paper from Xmas's gone by, and wrapped up the little blocks of styrofoam:

Too cute! :D

When I finally find my beading gut somewhere, I'll make some loops to tie onto the gifts so that I can hang them on our tree. :)

So if you want to take the pledge with me, grab my badge for your blog HERE, and post a link of any of your handmade Xmas tree decorations! :)

Also posted here:

GGCAA .

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Repurposed Jam Jar

2011-11-05T18:22:00.005+02:00

We had a lot of sweets left over from our halloween party, so I thought today I'll decorate an empty jam jar that we can use to store at least some of them sweeties. :)

Here's the before:

I didn't even remove most of the label glue or left-over labels.

I tore up a piece of mulberry paper and decopuaged it all over the jar and the lid, and added 2 coats of varnish over it. I glued on a butterfly and took 3 pieces of ribbon, plaited them together and tied it around the jar and glued 2 beads on the ends of the ribbon.

Now it's got a neat little home on top of one of our dvd cabinets.

Mmmmmm......Nut Puffs.......

Linky Parties linked to:

I Heart Nap Time A Vision to Remember
Truly Lovely .

Also posted here:

GGCAA .

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Halloween Bone Windchime

2011-10-24T21:49:00.000+02:00

I wasn't sure whether I should post this or not, as some of you are no doubt probably gonna think this is ew....but I thought I'd take a chance and just start off my post with a warning for those who don't wanna see it, hehe.....soooo......

WARNING: THIS CRAFT CONTAINS REAL ANIMAL BONES

I can't help that my creativity and crafty recycling doesn't know any bounds. Well, almost. :)

So while we were on holiday at our family farm in the Karoo (semi-desert region in South Africa), I picked me up some bones (sheep and springbuck bones to be exact) - we often see these bones laying around in the veld on our land, so on our last visit I had a brain spark, so I collected some bones and here's what I made with them:

I drilled some holes through which to thread the gut that I used to tied this all together, and I used some natural-looking raffia to secure the top bone in a plus shape.

I think it's gonna be a cool addition to our halloween party decor. :D

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Beautiful Quilling

2011-10-19T09:41:00.002+02:00

I just came across this blog and it's some of the most beautiful quilling I've ever seen! So just thought I had to share. :) The blog belongs to Lerisa, and if you click on her tabs at the top, you'll see many pictures of her work - I think her flowers and butterflies are stunning! (at least I'm assuming it's all hers...the translation thingy ain't working for me today).

You can visit her HERE.

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Halloween Drinks Bottles

2011-10-17T17:17:00.001+02:00

For our halloween party I'm going to be making punch to drink, which will be served out of wine bottles that I've decorated:

First I decoupaged some ordinary black paper around the body of the bottle to cover the lables, then once dry I decoupaged the printed pictures on top of that (I just googled some halloween pics). I also painted the neck of the bottle black to cover up the coloured metal piece that usually surrounds the top of the bottle....ya know what I mean? When that was dry I painted decoupage all over the bottle to round it off nicely, including over the black paint at the top, because the paint scratches off very easily.

After adding this printed piece, I painted it black around the edges - the straight white edges of the picture just didn't do the spooky theme justice.

I wanted to use a skull and crossbones somewhere, and I thought this one was hilarious...hehehe.
At least I can say I did some crafty recycling for the party. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

C.R.A.F.T.                Making the World Cuter
Sumo's Sweet Stuff   It's a Blog Party
Keeping it Simple      Craft-O-Maniac

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Beaded Snowflakes for Xmas Tree

2011-10-14T12:33:00.001+02:00

In the spirit of my Handmade Xmas Tree Decorations Pledge, I've made a set of beaded snowflakes to add some sparkle to the tree. :)

The pattern for this gorgeous little snowflake can be found on Sandra D. Halpenny's website.

If you want to join my handmade decorations pledge, grab my badge here (scroll to the bottom)! And leave a comment here if you have a handmade tree decoration you'd like to share, I'd love to see it. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Craft Envy .

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Introducing Sweet & Savoury Delights blog!

2011-10-11T22:56:00.001+02:00

Wow, almost 2 months since I've been here again! I'm glad that I still remember how to create a new post, hehe.

Anyway, I'll be back soon with, among other things, some Christmas tree decorations I've made in the spirit of my Totally Handmade Xmas Tree Decorations Pledge!

But for now I want to introduce my new blog, Sweet & Savoury Delights, where I'll be posting my recipes, including recipes which I've tweaked a little to make them much healthier! :) So anyone who's interested in cooking and baking and eating healthier, please stop by some time! I couldn't wait to at least get started on the blog, so I've only posted 1 muffin recipe so far, and then realized I don't have any photos of my yummy creations! Duh.

So if you're interested, subscribe in the mean time and soon you'll be reading (and seeing!) my delicious edible creations. ;) Which means I have a lot of baking lying ahead of me....*sigh*....what hard work it's going to be to eat all those muffins....

Happy crafting y'all!

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Repurposed Can

2011-08-24T19:47:00.001+02:00

Shew, it's been a loooong time since I posted anything! I've been a little busy with work, but MOSTLY with working on my new website where I'll be selling my crafts! :D So I've been busy making things to "stock" my site with as well.

Anyway, it's my sister's b'day on Friday and one of the goodies I'll be giving her is this can which I repurposed into a storage thingie (I'll be filling it up with things for her - who likes getting empty stuff, right?!).

All I did was decoupage some pretty scrapbook paper around it, coloured the edges of the tin (top and bottom) in with a gold paint-pen and decorated it with flowers and things.

Aptus Insurance

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Nikycole Curtain Tie Backs

2011-06-18T14:37:00.003+02:00

A while back I saw some curtain tie backs that I really liked and kinda wished I could have...
And guess what?! Recently I was lucky enough to win a set of them in a giveaway that Veronica from Life in the Thrifty Lane was having at Under the Table and Dreaming! :D How lucky is that? :)

So thanx again to Veronica for her lovely prize, I love 'em! :)

I chose the burlap ones 'cause I love their more natural colour.
Here they are in my TV room:

Don't they just fit in perfectly? They're held on to the curtain with ribbon and magnets - very easy to use. :)

Anywho, Veronica sells them on her Etsy shop Nikycole, if you'd like to have a set of your own. Needless to say she makes them in a bunch of different colours and fabrics too. :)

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Gift Wrapped Cards

2011-06-11T21:18:00.000+02:00

I thought I'd try get a little creative in wrapping my gran's cards that I made for her b'day, so instead of using ordinary wrapping paper, I did this:

I wrapped it in plastic (sandwich baggie to be exact...it's the best I had!), and taped it at the back to get it snuggly fit around the cards (I won't be showing the back though 'cause it's not a very neat taping job, it being a baggie 'n all). Then I tied a ribbon around it and made a flower using doilies and a decorated glass pebble which I modge podged with a rose picture:

Ok, maybe not AS fun as wrapping paper since you don't get a big surprise to see what you're unwrapping, but I think it's a cute idea. :)

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Purple & Silver Floral Card

2011-06-10T23:24:00.000+02:00

Aaaaaand, the last card for my gran! This one's my favourite, I love the colours and the flowers and the ribbon and the metallic paper....ok, so the whole card. :)

I did a lot of layering with the papers, and the top floral design one is vellum with silver flowers.

I glued on a paper flower and added a bling...oops, the glue was still a little wet, but I couldn't wait for it to dry, you know how it goes.

Gold Stamped Card

2011-06-08T19:28:00.001+02:00

This is the second card I've made for my gran's b'day:

I used a lovely texture metallic paper for this card, as well as a pretty stamp stamped with gold ink to match.

I didn't know what to put in the centre of the stamp, since it seems that it makes space for you to do something there. This flower is the best I could come up with from my stash of goodies. I hope it doesn' look too out of place on the card... :O

As usual, there was a lot of inking around the edges going on too.

The stamp without the flash, so that you can see the design more clearly:

Red Dry Embossed Card

2011-06-06T20:33:00.001+02:00

It's my gran's b'day on Sunday, so I decided to make her some cards that she can use instead of one on which I've written and then it's just another useless thing laying around her house, hehe - here's the first one I made for her:

I embossed red card stock, glued on some decorations in the centre, but it looked too bland. So I took a silver metallic marker and blotted a little sponge with it - I used the sponge to ink the edges of the card, and I went over the embossed design with the sponge too. Oh, and I used a corner punch as well.

Ta da! :)

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Black & White Filligree Note Card

2011-06-05T22:13:00.002+02:00

Here's another little mini card from my Just a note... range mini note cards:

I decorated the white card with black paper on which I drew a line with water and tore it to create that effect. I glued on a silver filligree goodie and a clear bling. Quick & simple!

Pink & Yellow Flower Note Card

2011-06-05T10:16:00.002+02:00

I've finally started making some goodies for sale, and these mini note cards are the first items. :D This mini card is part of my Just a note... range.

Don't they just look all cute and professional? Hehe.... I make my own little envelopes too to match my card sizes.

Well, I bought some pretty striped coloured card stock and put it through my cuttlebug. I inked the edges of the card with pink & yellow ink and glued on a paper flower and a bling. And voila!

Now I need to get busy with item no. 2! :)

Just a note...

2011-06-03T22:25:00.002+02:00

Just letting y'all know that I'm taking a break from hosting my weekend linky parties (as you may have noticed already)...I don't have time for them at the moment, but I'll think about bringing them back at a later stage once things have calmed down around here again! :)

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Very Blue B'day Card

2011-05-30T15:12:00.000+02:00

I made this card for The Sweet Stop's sketch challenge:

I Cuttlebugged blue card stock and glued it onto the white card base, and decorated some more white card stock with which to embellish the card further. The white card stock at the back was dabbed over with an ink pad to give it some colour, and the b'day piece was cut out with fancy scissors and the edges inked as well, and mounted on 3D dots.

I added some ribbons at the back to follow the sketch design, and added a lot of blings & flowers....and a butterfly.

And ta-da! A very blue b'day card is born. :)

SUBMITTED to:

The Sweet Spot Challenge 110 .

Halloween Invites

2011-05-29T13:51:00.004+02:00

We got started early with these invites 'cause we're hoping to inform the few people we're inviting early enough so that they can be available in October. :D

I basically just googled some images, cut them out and glued them together to make this card. I started with black card stock, cut out a skeleton menu frame to glue on, but then it was white in the centre, so I cut out a piece of ordinary black paper and glued it over the white centre of the invite. Then I searched for cute halloween images to add. I mounted the ghost with 3D foam dots, and glittered the bat to make the whole thing a little less dull.

The invite details are on the back:

I added some googly eyes that are supposed to look like they're staring at you out of the dark...but....ya, it didn't turn out as spooky as I'd imagined, lol.

Since halloween costume parties are not as big a thing over here as they are in US, I wanted to make sure the guests KNEW that it was a costume party (even though it does mention so quickly in the invite wording, but you never know what some people miss or look over), so I made an extra little tag to add in the envelope with the invite:

Hehe....

And then for the envelopes:

I printed out their names in a "scary" type font and cut it out with fancy scissors. Then I added a piece of torn black paper to the corner...I was going to glue on a pair of googly eyes again to make it look spooky, but it ended up looking more like a black triangle version of Spongebob Squarepants or something, so I just omitted the eyes.

And to make sure that the tag didn't end up being overlooked in the bottom of the envelope, I just sealed the envelope with some of the tag ribbon sticking out...so that it can't be missed.

LINKY PARTIES linked to:
I Heart Nap Time .

Purple Garden Themed Card

2011-05-17T10:43:00.001+02:00

I've finally decided to make another card again...mostly because of my new CUTTLEBUG!, which I got in the mail yesterday! :D I had to try it out. So I made a card for Cupcake Craft Challenges' "in the garden" theme.

For those who don't know what a Cuttlebug is...(my mum may be wondering, hehe), well, it's the thing that made those little flowers on the purple paper there in the background. :D Ok, so I only have 2 embossing folders so far and hope to get some more next month. This goodie is gonna make card making so much more fun! :D (& pretty) :)

I used white card stock and smudged some purple pencil shavings on it, and on the small piece behing the flower, and inked the edges with an ink pad. And added some blings. I also cut out all the squares, including the card itself, with my Fiskars cutting goodie and it's square stencils.

ENTERED into:

Cupcake Craft Challenges .

First Wedding Anniversary Gift - Framed Love Poem

2011-05-14T15:34:00.007+02:00

On 30 May is our first wedding anniversary! :D

Well I decided to make something for the occasion. You know how there's this thing where you're supposed to (for fun of course) give certain specific items for every year of the anniversary? If you don't, you can see it here: Anniversary Gifts by Year. For first year anniversaries you're supposed to write a love poem to your partner on scented paper....and since neither of us are into poetry and such, I decided to make something from both of us to both of us. :) I printed out the words (on scented paper!) to the song which we played when I was walking down the isle at our wedding - Annie's Song by John Denver. It's not so much a love poem, but I like the song and the words were suitable for this project. So! Here it is....

I took an old frame laying around here (it started out like this one) and painted it dark brown and spray painted varnish over it. My mum bought me these pretty scented papers for Xmas, and I only planned to use them for special things (that I don't have to give away, hehe), so I used the first one here. Can you see the roses?

To decorate it further, I used some swirly chipboard cut-outs which I padded with a purple ink pad to colour it in and spray painted varnish over it too to make it look not so dull - and added some blings on too:

And I used a heart chip board goodie, but I only inked the edges this time - I think it looks nice - and glued on a rose.

I also glued on a mini mirror heart (I used these to decorate some things for the wedding too), and added our initials with stickers:

And that's it! I'm really happy with how it turned out. :) I've put it on the little table in our entrance "hall", next to a wedding photo that I framed HERE too. :D

And then, I had my family over for my b'day last weekend and I made Coconut Snowballs which I topped off with cream cheese icing:

Now get ready for the recipe, because it's quite complicated...

You ready...?

Here's what you'll need to do:

Mix together 1 can of condensedmilk & 750ml desiccated coconut, roll into balls and through some more coconut & chill in fridge. Whew!

And then I got me one of those huge cupcake mould thingies - and made a huge-@$$ cupcake:

Hehe...anyway, had me some fun with that. I rolled one of the snowballs in red coconut and used it as a "cherry" to top of the cupcake cake. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Making the World Cuter Craft-O-Maniac
The DIY Showoff All Thingz Related

Who Made What? Weekends! #21!

2011-05-13T23:23:00.001+02:00

Well, it's SORTA party #21. If you'd like to link up something this weekend, please link it up with last week's linky party found just below this post!

We've been really busy around here with office work (annual tax recons - booo - and opening a new shop - yay), so I haven't got around to setting up a new linky party or anything, but I'll be back tomorrow to post my latest project! :)

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Who Made What? Weekends! #20!

2011-05-05T23:59:00.005+02:00

First, here's this week's feature from last week's link up...as voted for by you.......

Trisha from Roundabout's lamp make-over!

Isn't it so unique and lovely? She covered this lamp with book pages cut into circles. I think it must add a lovely soft light to a room. :)

Thanx to everybody who linked up last week - I hope we'll see you back here this week with some more interesting projects to share. :) So here goes.....

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And the Winner is........

2011-05-04T15:43:00.003+02:00

The winner of my giveaway has been chosen!
Now, somewhere in blogland someone gave me the idea of using an assistant in the winner drawing process - let me know who you are if you see this! She elicited the help of her cute kitty - my kitty was snoozing so I got another family member to step up. Here's what I did...
I put all the names of the entrants onto pieces of paper:

And called my assistant DeeDee nearer:

I layed out the names in a line and placed some foodies on them:

So DeeDee came up and started sniffing from one end all on her own - she started from the first one too, hehe:

And went all the way down the line to the end:

And chose the last one!

And the winner is........

Susan, from Pieces of Fate! :)

Please email me at naturallymecreations@gmail.com within 7 days with your address, otherwise I'll be drawing a new winner next week Thursday.

Prize has been claimed & shipped off

Thanx to everybody else who entered as well! :)

Ribbon & Bead Necklace

2011-05-03T16:24:00.014+02:00

Here is a necklace that I made that was originally inspired by the sweet & crafty Khadija from Creative Mind's cute spring-inspired necklace - I loved her use of ribbon in the necklace and I couldn't wait to try my own version, so here it is!

I used Khadija's "pattern" for the most part, just with my own little tweaks here and there. As for the rest, I used beads and a pendant that I had in my beading supply. Fortunately I had those red round beads that matched the ribbon exactly. :)

Meet my little hippo model:

As cute as she is, I probably really need to get myself one of those necklace display "doll" neckline thingies, huh?

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Sugar Bee Crafts            Vintage Wanna Bee
Today's Creative Blog
I'm Topsy Turvy             Rook No. 17
The Blackberry Vine      The Shabby Chic Cottage
Somewhat Simple          Tales from Bloggeritaville
It's Sew Stinkin' Cute Beyond the Picket Fence
Mel Dreams Often    Crystal's Craft Spot
Purple Froggie Clay Stuff

Huge Blog Candy & A Thank You

2011-05-02T15:20:00.005+02:00

There is some HUGE blog candy going on at Priscillastyles...which is why I'm letting y'all in on it...but mostly because I wanna win it! ;)

How generous is that?! :D Stop by their blog to find out how to enter - it's easy peasy, and this is an international giveaway!
There are even more prizes as well, if you can believe it, but you'll have to head on over there to find out for yourself! :)
Ends 31 May.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And then I want to say thank you to Theresa from Crafts/Friends/Angels who sent me a sweet little surprise package as a lucky runner-up-winner to a blog candy giveaway she was having for her b'day! :) Not only are her posts fun to read (she sounds so full of energy!), but she makes some really lovely cards as well - go have a looksie!

Here's what she sent me:

Lots of fun little goodies! Isn't she sweet? :)

Beaded Ankle Bracelet & Sweet Potato Muffins

2011-04-29T15:43:00.008+02:00

While we were at the sea just over a week ago, I took with some beading supplies to keep me busy, so after finishing the table cloth weights, I made an ankle bracelet, because the only other one I have has blue beads on it and it doesn't always match my outfits, so I made one with silver & clear beads - much more versatile! :)

Simple enough. I just used the same 3 beads through out, thought out a sequence for attaching the dangles and that was that.

Easy peasy. When I'm bored again or find myself with nothing to do on a long road trip or something, I'll be making more of these in different colours. :)

And then I wanna share a sweet potato muffin recipe that I found on Mom's Crazy Cooking. They're so easy to make and I just happened to have a bag of sweet potatoes hanging around, so I tried 'em and they're good!

You can find the recipe at Mom's Crazy Cooking - her recipe calls for pumpkin spice but I didn't have any so I used ordinary baking mixed spice and it worked perfectly. I made half with chocolate chips and half without, but they're both equally good. It only makes 12 medium muffins though, so I may have to double this recipe when I make it again. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Crystal's Craft Spot Truly Lovely
I Heart Nap Time Under the Table & Dreaming

Who Made What? Weekends! #19

2011-04-29T11:16:00.005+02:00

Thank you to everyone who linked up these past 2 weekends! Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to visit everyone from last weekend's party, but I'm so glad y'all stopped by and I hope to see you back again this weekend! :)
Ok, I'm doing 2 features this weekend because I didn't have time to do the feature for LAST weekends party, so here goes! :)
The featured creation for Who Made What? Weekends #17, as voted for by you, is..........for the second time in a row.........
Carol from The Answer is Chocolate with her Chico inspired jewellery!

She made them out of things you'd normally find in your garage and some pretty beaded components too. Aren't they interesting? And so creative too with it's unusual "ingredients". :)

And then I chose a creation to feature from last weekend's link up (because I forgot to enable the voting thingy for y'all...oops), so this weekend's feature is............Cris from Crissy's Crafts with her soda can flower napkin rings!

As you know (or maybe not know), I love recycled crafts, and I love the way these napkin rings turned out! such a classy end result from a totally unclassy soda can, hehe. :)

Now it's time to show us what you've been busy with!

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International Charm Day & Giveaway Reminder

2011-04-28T13:58:00.001+02:00

Today is International Charm Day! Did you do anything charm-related to participate? :)

Anyway, this is just a little reminder that there are only 6 days left to enter my GIVEAWAY, which includes some little charms too in the spirit of International Charm Day.

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Kitchen Chocolate Framed Goodie

2011-04-25T21:30:00.010+02:00

Remember to enter my GIVEAWAY before 3 May! :)

Every now and again I see these framed printables on other blogs, so I decided to try one for myself, just for fun, but one that was not suited for only 1 occasion (I see many valentines ones, or summer ones or easter themes etc), since I mostly like to make home decor items that are suitable for year round. So I made one for the kitchen, with a summery chocolate theme.

It's an old photo frame that was laying around here that actually housed a certificate from one of our businesses that we closed down - the frame was broken at one corner but we glued that together again.

The frame started out goldy:

But since gold doesn't have much place in my house, I roughly brushed over the whole frame with ordinary brown acrylic paint, and then I sprayed varnish over it to keep it from being scratched off again. The photo doesn't show it that clearly, but some gold still shows through the brown, but I preferred that over a solid brown frame:

I removed the glass (and set it aside for some as yet unknown future crafty project) and used a green checkered flowery scrapbook paper as the background for my artwork. :)

Then I went shopping for different styles of letters and found the 4 you see above. The "chocolate" were wooden cut-outs which I left as is, because they were sort of coloured already (dark around the edges) and it matched the chocolate theme...and the "cake" were cardboardy letters which I actually dabbed onto a yellow ink pad but it came out green, which suited the background anyway, so all was good. Oh, and I added some blings to the cake as well:

The "hot" were also wooden cut-outs, and I dabbed them onto a brown ink pad, and the "cocoa" I bought as is:

I glued on some brown pearls and some flowers that I had in my stash.

And hung it on the kitchen wall (there was already a hook there just hanging around doing nothing, that came with the house when we bought it):

Doesn't it just make the kitchen look more home-y? :D

Anyway, speaking of chocolate...my dad goes to Switzerland every year around Easter time, so he brings us back a big swiss chocolate bunny every year:

Can you believe that my husband actually expects me to share this with him every year? *SOME* people, ya know...?! I make him bring out the electronic scale and share this bunny precisely 50/50. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Rook No. 17              Sugar Bee Crafts
Vintage Wanna Bee    I'm Topsy Turvy
This & That               Free Pretty Things For You
Someday Crafts        Seven Thirty Three
All Things Heart & Home
Scrappy Gifts    Under the Table & Dreaming

SUBMITTED to:

Crystal's Craft Spot Challenge .

Table Cloth Weights (& Cous Cous Salad)

2011-04-23T15:19:00.021+02:00

Remember to enter my GIVEAWAY before 3 May! :)

I'm back! :D What.....? You never even noticed I was away?? Hehe... Well, on Monday afternoon we decided to go to the sea the next day until Friday. So we drove 6 hours to spend about 2 1/2 days at the sea - but it was so nice to be at the sea again! :D My dad booked himself in a hotel there (when we were still in school, we used to go there EVERY year around the Easter holidays, it's my favourite hotel at the sea!) - anyway, he went alone this time, so we decided to surpise him with a visit - nobody told him we were coming so he got a good surprise. Anyway, we got back last night. It's weird thinking that just yesterday morning I was looking at the sea from my bedroom and listening to the waves, and now we're back here again...*sigh*. But I'm happy to see my kitty again, hehe! :)

Of course I had to take some crafting stuff with to keep myself busy, so I took with some beading supplies and finally made some table cloth weights that I've been wanting to do for a long time! Here they are - I made a set of 8 of them:

My little creation at the sea, hehe:

This was the view from our hotel room - I love this place because it's RIGHT on the beach, just the way I like it!

This was the morning that we left - you can (just barely) see my husband & dad being the only ones swimming, hehe. The current was really strong that day, so nobody was allowed deeper into the sea.

Anyway, we can't wait to go there again! :)

Well, for lunch today I made our favourite cous cous salad. I got this idea from my sister, so I can't take any credit for inventing this meal. But it's simple, here's what I use and I think it's enough for 2 people:

1 cup dried cous cous (then cook according to package instructions, with salt to taste)
2 tomatoes, chopped into smallish cubes
1 avocodo, chopped into smallish cubes

Once the cous cous is cooked, just add the tomatoes & avo and mix. We love it. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Simple Home Life                     I Heart Nap Time
Under the Table & Dreaming The Tattered Tag
Truly Lovely Be Different..Act Normal
A Vision to Remember Craft Envy
Passionately Artistic    C.R.A.F.T.
Making the World Cuter    Sumo's Sweet Stuff
It's a Blog Party    Craft-O-Maniac
Mom's Crazy Cooking            The Girl Creative

My goodies were featured at Passionately Artistic! :D

And featured at It's a Blog Party! :D

Who Made What? Weekends! #18!

2011-04-21T11:59:00.002+02:00

This is just a quick post, we've decided to go away last minute and I didn't have time to do the feature from last week, so I'll do 2 features next weekend!

Link up, link up, link up! :)

B'day & International Charm Day Giveaway!

2011-04-18T16:21:00.002+02:00

********CLOSED********

So...my b'day is coming up next month and I decided to have a little giveaway. And in the spirit of International Charm Day, I'm adding a few charms to the giveaway as well. :)

This is an international giveaway!

To give you some idea of what International Charm Day is about, here's a quote from their website:

On this day we celebrate life, friendship, artistic charms to wear. We do this by sharing and wearing our own handmade art charms or give gifts of charms, charm making supplies or charm related items. Love, hope, charity, creativity, friendship, kindness, happiness and sharing are many of the founding components behind this event.

Anyone can partake in this event of course. Visit their site and grab their badge for your blog, and remember to let them know if you're doing something special for that day! :)

Here's what's included in the giveaway....
One of my beaded bookmarks:

3 little charms made by me in the spirit of Charm Day:

A few other little charms:

And some jewellery. Now since I know that everyone is very particular in their choice of jewellery, both or either of these pieces will be included in the giveaway package, but only if the "winner" so chooses - I'd like for my jewelleries to have loving homes. :)

Necklace pendant made with a lovely shell circle & glass pearl (necklace not included).

Matching earing & pendant set (necklace not included).

So if you'd like to enter the giveaway, here's what you need to do:

1. You must have your own crafty blog of some sort (Etsy stores not applicable) - I'd like my giveaway to serve as a thank you for all the inspirational creations that I've found in blog land. :)

2. One entry ~ Be a follower of my blog and leave a comment letting me know that you are, and make sure that I have a link to your blog (new & existing followers) - each comment is an entry into the giveaway, so existing followers who want to enter need to leave me a comment too.

3. Second entry ~ "Like" Naturally Me Creation's facebook page and leave me a comment on the FB page letting me know that you've done so - you'll find my FB thingy in my left side bar.

4. Third entry ~ If you'd like a third entry into the giveaway, link up a charm and leave me a comment letting me know which one you linked up. It can be charms that you've made, or any of your favourite charms that you have, or ones that you saw elsewhere and loved.

And that's it! :) The giveaway and linky will close on my b'day, 3 May at midnight (SA time). Email me if you're unsure of the "rules" or anything else. :)

Old Jewellery Box Before & After, & Yummy Savoury Sauce

2011-04-17T18:29:00.012+02:00

First, sorry there was no Who Made What? Weekends! this weekend! We were out of town the whole of Thursday until late at night and I totally forgot to set it up in advance, but it shall be back again next weekend. :)

What I've been working on in the mean time is an old jewellery box that I've had since I was small. It's just been sitting in the back of my cupboard for years now 'cause I didn't want to throw it away.

So I decided to do a before-&-after. :D And here's the after:

I removed the little windows from the front and everything inside as well:

I still have to find the right fabric to cover the inside with.

Then I decoupaged scrapbook paper all over the box. After tons of measuring I cut the paper to fit the roof and the sides etc, and decoupaged it on. Then I took a brown ink pad, dapped a small sponge on it and rubbed the sponge along the corners & edges of the box to give it a more interesting look (you can see it in the pic above).

And then came the decorations. I added a gold goodie that was recycled from a wedding invitation:

I made little paper flowers too using another patterned scrapbook paper, a small flower punch & gold brads:

And then for a while now (a couple months actually) I've been looking for self adhesive swirly pearl designs, but couldn't find any. So I finally decided to make my own decorations by drawing (or dotting) freehand swirly patterns with gold glittler glue. Here's the left side of the roof:

And here's the right side:

I also glued on that pretty butterfly.

And then I wanted to add something to the front of the "house" because it looked a little empty, so I came up with this cute idea - I used teeny glass bottles, removed the corks and added black, red & green glitter (as the soil). I have little white organza roses that I dabbed onto with a red ink pad to give them some colour, and for their stems I glued on some of that green wiry things that I removed from some bees that I used in a previous craft project (I knew I could still find a use of these!). So I glued a little rose pot plant on each corner on the front:

Finally done! :D I've put it in the dining room and we're now using it to store the keys for the patio doors & gates leading out from the dining room.

Lastly I thought I'd share one of my favourite sauces. We usually eat it with a crumbly maize meal "porridge" that we have when we have a BBQ, but this time I didn't have maize meal so we poured it over cous cous instead, and it was just as good. :) It's really yummy & tangy with a strong flavour.

250 g     butter
1 tsp      dry mustard powder
30 ml     worcestershire sauce
125 ml   sugar
125 ml   vinegar
250 ml   tomato sauce
1            onion, finely chopped
1            green pepper (what I think some of you call bell peppers?), finely chopped

Cook everything together in a pot for 10 minutes.

How simple is that? :D Enjoy. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

I Heart Nap Time The Tattered Tag
Under the Table & Dreaming Scrappy Gifts
Making the World Cuter Sumo's Sweet Stuff
Between Naps on the Porch .

Versatile Blogger Award & My First Giveaway!

2011-04-11T11:31:00.002+02:00

Some time ago now, I was awarded the Versatile Blogger award by 2 of my favourite blogging ladies, Kassi from Truly Lovely & Monica from Handmade Cards with Love. :D And I finally got around to "accepting" them... So thank you ladies for once again thinking of me and my blog! :)

So just quickly, the rules of acceptance are as follows:
1. Thank & link back to the person who gave you the award
2. List 7 things about yourself
3. List a few newly discovered great blogs

So here goes...

7 Things About Me

1. My favourite colours are purple, blue, and more recently green too. Green means nature to me, and I love nature. :)

2. My favourite drink is water.

3. I love reading horror novels and watching scary movies.

4. Me & my husband got married in May 2010 after being together for over 13 years (since we were 18)

5. I prefer winter over summer by far. Although, during winter, I do look forward to spring and flowers and green returning to the garden.

6. Me & my husband are lucky to own our own businesses and we both work from home.

7. My favourite places to go on holiday are the Kruger National Park here in SA, or a secluded cabin in a mountainous forest.

Newly discovered great blogs

Very recently (like, this last week or so) I've discovered 4 really lovely blogs owned by 4 talented ladies. :) I haven't gotten to know these ladies at all yet, but I love their blogs and their beautiful creations...and even if they don't accept this award (I know how it goes, hehe), at least y'all will get a chance to visit them and see for yourself what they have to offer, if you don't know about them yet!

Crafting Life's Pieces

Not only does Chelsea have one of the most lovely blogs ever, but wait until you see her gorgeous cards, which are anything but ordinary!

Angel Wings & Beautiful Things

Besides Mariana's pretty blog, here I found some of the most beautiful paper crafts ever - tags, scrapbook layouts, cards & even a little album. Browse around a bit, you'll find 'em. :)

Craft a World

This sweet lady Farah has all kinds of talent - some of my favourite creations on her blog were quickly found under her "My Projects" heading in her side bar...things from glass painting to wire/stocking flower tutorial and more in between.

Amber Dawn's Inventive Soul

Here you'll see some of the cutest charms you'll ever get to witness in your entire life! :) Amber makes mini charms out of craft clay (& the miniest of mini paper book charms!)

And then.....a giveaway!

It's my b'day next month, and since I didn't get around to organizing a giveaway for my 100 followers milestone, I'm doing one for my b'day - which I'll be combining with International Charm Day, by attempting for the first time to make some charms which I will include in my giveaway as well! And also, if you'd like to participate in International Charm Day on 28 April 2011, visit their blog and find out more about it!

So stay tuned to find out more about the giveaway, I'll be posting more details really soon! :)

Mini Gift Bag

2011-04-09T16:36:00.012+02:00

I love cute and interesting gift wrapping/boxing ideas. So I made a cute mini gift bag out of scrapbook paper - it's perfect for gifting small jewelleries (my beaded bracelets fit in there perfectly with space to spare). :D

It's teeny tiny...so cute! :D

I used tiger tail beading wire to make the handles. I just added some beads...but it was SO finnicky to work with! Mostly only where I had to fix the wire through the holes that I punched in the bag (using one of my husband's tools from his tool box, 'cause I don't have a teeny tiny punch) - I'd like to find an easier way of attaching the handles though - I looped the wire through the hole that I punched, brought the wire back up and then fastened it with a crimp bead. To try and cover up the crimp bead, I threaded on this gold flower bead:

It didn't cover this one so well because the bead couldn't fit over the crimp bead...but anyway. If anyone has a neat and simple idea for how to attach a beaded handle like this, please gimme gimme gimme! :)

To finish it off I added a wooden fower bead:

Then, after placing your gift inside, cut a small piece of tissue (tissue works better than tissue paper because it's so small) and cover the gift with it.

There's not much one can gift in such a tiny bag (maybe a chocolate truffle), but it's still cute. And I love cute stuff. :D

If you want this gift box template, just ask me for my gift box template no. 1. It's a template that I got from the net and it's by Donovan, but I didn't save the link to where I found it...

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Simple Home Life Making the World Cuter
Craft-O-Maniac Keeping it Simple
The Blackberry Vine Free Pretty Things For You
Someday Crafts Under the Table & Dreaming
Scrappy Gifts .

My little gift bag was featured at The Blackberry Vine! :D

Crafty Recycling - Receipts Holder

2011-04-08T14:09:00.013+02:00

(excuse all the different frames and things - I'm working out which one looks best!)

Last night I finally got to making something that we seriously needed around here.....a receipts holder! Because we're one of those couples who just don't seem to know where all our money has gone to by the end of the month, since we're too lazy to collect all our receipts and put them in one place. Well now I've made a place to put them, and I've placed this container on the table as you exit the kitchen - you can't go into the rest of the house without passing this container, so we can't forget to put our receipts in there before we do ANYTHING else and forget about it!

This is a recycled project too. This container started out like one of these:

Except the one I just emptied was a Tiramisu one. See?

Anyway, I removed the label and decoupaged some green wrapping paper all around it. This green paper is also recycled - when we repainted one of our shops in the mall, the mall centre management covered up our shop front windows with this green paper - from top to bottom - so of course I had to keep it - I have like 4 rolls of the stuff now. This paper colour was perfect for me to stick to my ladybug/garden kitchen theme that I'm trying to establish.

And then I stuck on some stickers that I didn't know what else to do with, because they're just not classy enough to be used in any fancy projects (shame, but the bees are cute though! Hehe). I decorated all 4 sides this way. And then rounded it off by tying green raffia around the top because there was too much white and I couldn't cover it any other way:

And now I'm going to finish my lunch time dessert (I've already finished most of it while writing this post).

Water helps to flush out all the fat in a meal, didn't you know? ;) At least I like to think so. :P

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Truly Lovely                                        Fingerprints on the Fridge
The Shabby Nest    Finding Fabulous
Keeping it Simple    Under yhe Table & Dreaming

Who Made What? Weekends! #17!

2011-04-07T23:59:00.001+02:00

I'll get right to it!

This week's feature from last week's link ups, as voted for by you, is.........for a second time.........

Carol from The Answer is Chocolate's decorated eggs!

Aren't they lovely? I'm not one for decorating my home with eggs...because, well.....they're eggs! Hehe. But she's made them so pretty with the soft colours, the tissue paper added for texture (or rather, the tissue paper was slapped & smooshed on - quoted from Carol's blog) and all those lovely embellishments, that I have to say that these are the first eggs I personally wouldn't mind decorating a table in my home with. :)

I never get bored with her creations. Do take a few minutes to check out her blog - you'll find a talented crafty lady (with an amuzing way of wording her posts, hehe). :)

Thanx to everybody who linked up last weekend! I hope we'll be seeing you back again this weekend! :)

My First Painting (& Easy Chocolate Fudge!)

2011-04-05T14:07:00.002+02:00

So I tried making my first painting, and here's how it turned out. I chose cute kittens. :D

AND without any art lessons either...

What? "It can't be that your first ever attempt at painting turned out so good!" I hear you say??
You don't think that these PERFECTLY shaped and real-looking kitty whiskers is the work of a naturally talented artists like me??

Ok fine! I'll say it!.......................................I CHEATED!

I did learn something about myself though.....I don't think I like painting....I hated mixing colours (plus the cover's mixing instruction were totally inaccurate, so I had to figure the ratios out myself, that's why my colours aren't all quite right), I hated painting with a soft "flimsy" brush that didn't always go precicely where I needed it to go (the one that was supplied in the package), I hated trying to paint such teeny tiny details, and I've got a stiff neck from leaning over this picture for about 2 days while working on it. I was glad to get it finished.
But I'm glad I tried it, it initially looked like fun and now I've got my own little piece of artwork, hehe. :)

And now for my favourite chocolate fudge recipe. This fudge is smooth & chocolaty and perfect for satisfying those uber sweet-cravings. And it's easy to make!

100 g butter
50 ml milk
5 ml vanilla
500 g icing sugar (that ultra fine powdery sugar)
2 ml salt
125 ml cocoa powder
125 ml raisins (optional, but I don't put 'em in)

1. Microwave butter, milk & vanilla for 2 mins.
2. Add icing sugar, salt & cocoa to butter mixture, mix well with a fork to combine, & microwave for 2 mins.
3. Add raisins here if you wish, pour into battered dish and cool in fridge, then cut.

Enjoy! :D

Who Made What? Weekends! Party #16!

2011-04-01T09:36:00.000+02:00

(Oi, this didn't post when it was supposed to earlier today! Better late than never! )

It's time to link up your creations again! I hope you've been busy this week! :)

But first this week's feature! The voting thingy seems to have gone all funny at the end, so it doesn't show who had the most votes - luckily I was keeping track of it and saw who reached the most votes first (you'll just have to trust me on this one, hehe). SO, this week's feature from last weekend's link ups, as voted for by you is.......

......Jenny's repurposed T-shirt scarf (or bracelet!) over at Ms Not So Perfect!

Isn't it clever how she did this? I'm guessing it makes for some nice & warm winter "jewellery", hehe. (I don't really like putting on cold metal necklaces in winter)
She even made a cute bracelet out of it:

Check out her blog, she has some other crafty ideas, as well as lots of yummy recipes, and even cleaning & organizing tips. :)

I loved seeing what you all linked up last weekend...keep it comin'!

Recycled Milo Can

2011-03-31T15:57:00.025+02:00

I finally decided to give it a go at decorating a used can...and it was fun. :D I used an empty Milo can and just modge podged scrapbook paper on it and glued on some embellishments and voila! Easy peasy. This would make a super gift I think, and you can fill it up with tea bags, coffee, chocolates or whatever! Why buy an expensive container when you can recycle your own (& it'll probably end up being much prettier and more interesting than a bought one).

So here's the empty can. I removed the label of course. The scrapbook paper wasn't long enough to completely encircle the can, so I cut an extra stip of the paper and modge podged it on first, to cover the gap that would be there:

Then I modge podged the scrapbook paper on, which I had to cut to size first.

Then I just added the embellishments. I glued on a strip of green patterned paper that was included in a mixed paper pieces package. This strip was also too short to encircle the can, so I glued the big flower over that to cover the gap. And then I glued on some green pearls to cover extra strip of paper that I first had to glue underneither:

I used a bronze metallic marker to colour in the bottom rim of the tin that I couldn't cover with paper.

I also cut out a circle of the paper and modge podged it onto the lid with a pearl as well:

I didn't know how else to decorate the lid, it being plastic, so I just left it as is, but I think overall it looks fine. I can't wait to make more! :D

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Fireflies & Jelllybeans                           Somewhat Simple
The Shabby Chic Cottage    Rook No. 17
Tales from Bloggeritaville                     Momnivore's Dilemma
It's Sew Stinkin Cute                           What Allie's Making Now
Paisley Passions                                  Rhinestone Beagle
Finding Fabulous                                 Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
It's a Hodgepodge Life                        Lit & Laundry
A Few of My Favorite Things    The Shabby Nest
Fingerprints on the Fridge    Small Fine Print
Just a Girl                                           Simple Home Life
Truly Lovely Scrappy Gifts
The Blackberry Vine Be Different, Act Normal
A Vision to Remember    I Heart Nap Time
The Blackberry Vine .

SUBMITTED to:

Going Green Crafters & Artists .

Beaded Xmas Tree Loops

2011-03-28T11:32:00.009+02:00

These little decorations were inspired by the ones I saw on Spoilt Rotten Beads.
I've made these Xmas tree ornaments for My Totally Handmade Christmas Tree Decorations Pledge! :D

Grab my badge in the right side bar & display it on your blog if you wanna join my pledge! :)

These were quite simple and quick to make (it was only the part with the crimp beads that were quite fiddly to do, so be patient there, hehe). So I've made a tutorial on how to make these ornaments, in case you wanted to make 'em for your pledge as well. ;)

First, this is what you'll need:

an assortment of coloured 6mm bicone facet beads

clear 4mm bicone facet beads

silver-lined size 11 seed beads

crimp beads

loop rings

bells (or your dangly of choice)

memory wire (I used the size that was a few millimeters over 4cm across)

silver string

tools: scissors, pliers & memory wire cutters

First, cut a loop so that it overlaps a little, like this:

Then string on your beads however you like. I chose this sequence and just repeated it on either side until the ring was full:

String on until the loop is almost full - you'll stop where the loop overlaps:

Now you'll probably have to cut the overlapping wire, just a tad, otherwise it's too long, like in my photo above. Cut it so that the wire ends no longer want to overlap the beading:

The only way I could think of to secure the wire was to add crimp beads. So add 2 crimp beads to one side of the wire:

Now slide the other end of the wire into the crimp beads as well:

This is the fiddly part because the beads slide around very easily and could fall off. But just space the crimp beads on either side of the overlapping wires, so that there's a space between them where you're gonna add your dangly. Then squish the crimp beads with your pliers so that they secure the wires:

Take a loop ring and add your dangly on it, then close the ring over the centre of the overlapping memory wires:

Finally, take a piece of silver string (I used about 20cm of string) and tie it around the loop ring so that you can hang it on your tree.

And there's your tree ornament! :D

I made some in different colours:

I really enjoyed making these, because they're so simple and relatively quick too. :)

Remember to send me a link of your ornaments if you decided to try 'em out too!

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

The Little Birdie Blog                               Sugar Bee Crafts
Vintage Wanna Bee    This & That
Today's Creative Blog                              I'm Topsy Turvy
Rook No. 17                                           Somewhat Simple

Who Made What? Weekends! Party #15!

2011-03-24T23:59:00.008+02:00

This is gonna be a quick post 'cause it's my bed time and I need to get up early tomorrow! So here goes....

Tnx to everybody who linked up their goodies last weekend, I had fun visiting your blogs. :)

This week's feature from last week's link ups, as voted for by YOU, is.......

......this sheet music dresser by Lori over at The Alligator Box!

Isn't it lovely? It was definitely one of my personal favourites as well. :) Some time ago I saw someone in blogland decoupage a candle with sheet music and I immediately loved it! Seeing these drawers covered in sheet music has got me thinking what else might look pretty decorated with sheet music....I think I have an idea already.... :D This should be fun.
Lori has a number of other really great and fancy furniture re-do's on her blog, do pay her a visit and have a look. :)

Well, it's time to link up again! :D I'm looking forward to seeing what interesting crafts you all have in store for us this weekend! :)

Baking Supply Tags

2011-03-22T16:38:00.013+02:00

I was in the mood to do something just whimsical and fun, so I made little tags for my baking supplies. :D

Some of my baking supplies are in glass jars and some still in their original packaging, and they were all stuffed in my baking supply section of the pantry. So I decided to buy more glass jars (well, I still have to buy 'em) and put all my main baking supplies in them, and then make tags for them and move them to a kitchen shelf for display, where they can "brighten" up the kitchen a little, because the kitchen is too boring for my liking, hehe.

(excuse the damaged paint in the background)

So far I have jars for the ready-made (thanx to Nigella!) flapjack (pancake) mix, icing sugar & cocoa powder, so I still have to get jars for the castor sugar, white sugar, brown sugar & baking powder.

Anyway, here's how I made them:
I traced flowers with a stencil and cut them out by hand (some of us aren't yet lucky enough to have a fancy cutting maching, *sigh*). I cut out the first set out of brown cardboard so that they would be sturdy tags, and then another set out of green paper.

I glued them together and punched some holes where the string would go through:

I used jute, folded the piece in half and strung it through the holes by going in through the top front and out the bottom hole through the back. Where it came out the front at the bottom, I tied the jute in a double knot and cut off the excess pieces so that it wasn't too long:

The tags were too light and needed to be weighed down, so I decided to hot glue on some glass pebbles. But first I punched out some mini flowers and modge podged them onto the top of the pebbles, and then added a little bling in the centre:

Then I had to add the labels, so I stencilled a shape onto white card stock and glued it on. To decorate it a little more I added blings to the labels and a little ladybug (since my kitchen theme is ladybugs). I went for a garden-y theme for the tags.
Overall I think it would have looked great to paste something directly on the jar instead of making little hangers like I did, but I thought this would be easier for when I have to wash the jars and I don't have to worry about the labels getting water damaged etc.

I think they're cute. :D

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Rook No. 17                                            Sugar Bee Craft Edition
These Creative Juices    I'm Topsy Turvy
This & That    Today's Creative Blog
Rhinestone Beagle    .

Beaded Watch Bracelet

2011-03-20T15:11:00.018+02:00

I've made another bracelet - a beaded watch bracelet this time. My favourite watch was stolen a couple years ago (boo) and so I've just never got around to buying a new one. I had this watch face in my beading stash that I bought at least 2 years ago and it's just been lying there...not sure why it was waiting so long to be turned into something useful, but anyway...

Since I've been in the mood to make bracelets these last few days, I thought I'd make this beaded watch bracelet! :D I stuck to neutral colours (black, silver & clear glass) so that I would be able to wear it with as many outfits as possible:

I made this bracelet a summery garden theme with the use of glass leaves and butterfly charms.

It's so full of different beads that it was a pain in the bum to get a photo showing the beads individually, so this is the best I've got:

Now all I need is a battery for the watch.

While my beading mojo has returned for the time being, I've found myself ordering some more beads online (hehe) - you know how they say you can NEVER have too many craft supplies? Well, it's true (if not MORE so) for beading. :) So hopefully my soon-to-be-arriving beads will get some more beading creative juices flowing. :D

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

I Heart Nap Time                            Under the Table & Dreaming
Craft Envy    A Vision to Remember
Saturday Mornings    Fingerprints on the Fridge
Making the World Cuter     C.R.A.F.T.
Sumo's Sweet Stuff I'm Topsy Turvy
This & That    Today's Creative Blog

Who Made What? Weekends! Party #14!

2011-03-17T23:59:00.038+02:00

Welcome to this weekend's linky party! :D

I hope you'll join in and show us what creations you've been crafting recently. :)

But first, last week's featured creation, as voted for by you, is Carol from The Answer is Chocolate! She upcycled this can into a lovely storage item:

Isn't it lovely? I love her crafting, she has so many beautiful and elegant creations. (Plus she has a few yummy chocolatey recipes on her blog too!). I find her creations really inspirational - take a few minutes to go on over there and check her out. :)

Thanks to everyone who linked up their lovely creations -since I don't always have time to visit ALL my favourite blogs regularly, when I see one of you linking up, it gives me a good opportunity to pay you a visit again. :)

So.....let the link ups begin! :D

Purple Beaded Bracelet

2011-03-14T21:54:00.014+02:00

I loved this bracelet that I made this past weekend, so decided to make another one! I used purple colours for this one though - I've had these lovely flowery purple fimo beads for AGES but didn't know what to make with them, so I finally used 'em in this bracelet today:

The fimo beads reminded me of a garden, so I went with a garden theme for this bracelet - some of the other charms I added were glass leaves and butterfly charms.
Here's just a close up of the charms I put together:

I love these fimo beads! I've added some more of them in different colours to my online beadshop shopping basket now that I know what I'd like to use them for. :D

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Sugar Bee Craft Edition                     This & That
Today's Creative Blog     Rook No. 17
I'm Topsy Turvy                                Truly Lovely
The Answer is Chocolate I Heart Nap Time
Making the World Cuter    C.R.A.F.T.
Sumo's Sweet Stuff    This & That
.

Beaded Bracelet

2011-03-13T10:40:00.017+02:00

Making the beaded bookmarks yesterday got me in the mood to make more beaded things, so I made myself a bracelet too!

Here are just some close ups of the different charms I made:

I used prettily painted wooden beads and rounded it off with 2 wooden black beads on either side.

I also added a variety of heart and insect metal charms:

And then I made a few smaller dangly-bead combinations:

Left: a gold splashed bead rounded off with 2 black wooden beads. Centre: a gold painted wooden disk bead attached to a flower-like spacer. Right: a jasper stone bead rounded off with 2 wooden beads again.

Left: gold painted wooden bead topped with a spacer and black wooden bead. Right: a pretty volcano bead rounded off with a spacer on each side.

This is one of my favourite bracelets I've made so far. :D

I've had some other favourite bracelets that I made in the past, but I made them with string and they've all broken after wearing them for a while (some sooner than others) - I'm not sure why. :( So I prefer to make chain bracelets now. Here are my poor broken ones:

A fun little daisy chain bracelet.

An ocean inspired seed bead bracelet.

I used the cutest little mini sea shells on this one!

A glass pearl & rose bracelet.

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Crystal's Craft Spot                                   I Heart Nap Time
Under the Table & Dreaming A Vision to Remember
Saturday Mornings    Just a Girl
Fingerprints on the Fridge    A Few of My Favorite Things
The Shabby Nest    Making The World Cuter
Truly Lovely    Sumo's Sweet Stuff
I'm Topsy Turvy
.

Beaded Bookmarks

2011-03-12T18:37:00.021+02:00

Today I made some beaded bookmarks, because yesterday I finally got hold of the metal bookmarks that I need for this!

I used a variety of size 11 seed beads, bicones, metal & plastic charms, loop rings, head pins, eye pins, spacers, a plastic pearl bead and glass crackle beads.

Here are some close ups of some of the bead combinations that I made:

I used a butterfly-wings metal charm, added a plastic pearl for the head and seed beads for the body, and put it all together on a head pin.


I used headpins for these 3 danglies as well. I added a seed bead, a bicone, a smaller bicone, and looped the end to finish it off.


Here I made a dangly using a head pin and adding on a seed bead, a bicone, a pink glass crackle bead, and another bicone and seed bead. I added a plastic butterfly charm onto a piece of headpin, and attached it to the dangly using 3 loop rings.


Here added some seed beads and bicones to eyepins, and attached a metal charm to the end of the eyepin using a loop ring.

I've made them as gifts before - great for those ladies who like to read a lot! :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:
Truly Lovely                                        Chic on a Shoestring Decorating
A Vision to Remember Craft Envy
Be Different...Act Normal    It's a Hodgepodge Life
Crystal's Craft Spot    I Heart Nap Time
Under the Table & Dreaming    Saturday Mornings
Just a Girl Fingerprints on the Fridge
A Few of My Favorite Things The Shabby Nest
Making the World Cuter    Rook No. 17
I'm Topsy Turvy .

Who Made What? Weekends! Party #13!

2011-03-10T23:59:00.002+02:00

Thanx so much to all who linked up their lovely creations at last weekend's party, I loved checking them all out - so many fun and creative ideas, AND there was a new record of 39 link ups, wee hee! :D

Now, onto this week's feature...and thanx to your votes, it is none other than kind Monica and her beautiful card! :D I love her cards, and am so glad that you guys appreciate her work as well! :)

I'm a big fan of her cards - it's like she makes them all just for me knowing exactly what I'd like. :) If you haven't visited her blog yet or are not familiar with her cards, go pay her a visit at Handmade Cards With Love - you won't be disappointed!

Well, it's time to link up, link up, LINK UP! :D I can't wait to see what you want to share with us this weekend!

Mini Beaded Wreath for Xmas Tree - Tutorial

2011-03-09T17:11:00.022+02:00

I've made another little decoration for my Xmas tree! (yes, I know what time of year it is, hehe) I love how it turned out, it's so cute! :D It was actually inspired by THIS beautiful beaded wreath that I found on Brittany's blog, Sew In Love.

What made me try out this little creation is Crystal's Craft Spot Crafting With Crystal challenge! The inspiration for this month's challenge is this:

Remember my Totally Handmade Christmas Tree Decorations Pledge? Well, this is part of it, and I'm starting early because there are a few things that I want to make throughout the year!


Grab my pledge badge in my side bar if you wanna join me! :D

I've decided to make a tutorial out of this one, so here goes:
What you'll need is this:

*gold beading wire
*3 colours size 11 seed beads
*beading pliers to help with twisting the wires (optional)
*beading wire cutters
*fabric ribbon
*craft glue (optional)

I started off with gold beading wire, and looped it 5 times around 3 fingers:

The ends should overlap a little:

And then twist them together:

Then bend it over and twist it around the circle to secure it:

(I added a loop ring at first because I had other ideas of how to make it dangly, but then I got another idea and just left it - so ignore that loop ring you see there!)

I then cut 3 strands of wire (each about 45cm long) and twisted them together at one end to secure them:

Then with the free ends, start stringing on the beads (1 colour per strand):

Once I strung on all the beads on a strand (I strung on about 30cm of beads per strand - it could have gone a bit more to give a fuller wreath at the end), I added prestik to keep the beads from falling off - I didn't want to ruin the wire by bending it...but do whatever suits you best - as it turns out, using prestik ain't such a good idea.

Once you've stringed on all the beads, start plaiting them together as you would an ordinary 3 strand hair plait:

Then take the twisted piece that you made before you strung on the beads, and wind that around the top (the part where you twisted together the end of the wires in the beginning and wound them around the wreath) of the wreath to secure it. I used my pliars here because I wanted it to be properly secured. Then you just carry on winding the bead plait around the wreath until you get to the end:

This is where I found out that using prestik wasn't the greatest idea:

Anyway, once I got most of the prestik off, I twisted the wires together at the end to secure the beads, and cut off the extra beading wire:

And then wound the twisted piece around the wreath to fasten it:

To decorate the wreath, I used green ribbon to make a teeny little bow. You'll also need another piece of ribbon to make the dangly part:

I took the piece of ribbon and tied it around the wreath to my desired length, and cut off the extra ribbon:

I added some craft glue to the insde of the ribbon to help it stay in place so that it doesn't move around. I glued it over the part where the beading wire ends were wrapped around the wreath, to cover all that up:

It had to dry in the hanging position so that the glue would have contact the whole time, so I constructed this in my pencil holder out of rulers and a paint brush to hang my wreath on (hehe):

And then I glued on the little bow!

If you decide to try it out, remember to send me a link of your project, I'd love to see it! :D

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

All Things Heart & Home                 Blue Cricket Design
The Little Birdie Blog Someday Crafts
The Trendy Treehouse                      Fireflies & Jellybeans
The Shabby Chic Cottage Beyond The Picket Fence
Truly Lovely It's a Hodgepodge Life
I Heart Nap Time Under the Table & Dreaming
A Vision to Remember    Saturday Mornings
Just a Girl    Fingerprints on the Fridge
A Few of My Favorite Things    The Shabby Nest
Making the World Cuter    Hope Studios

ENTERED into:

Crafting With Crystal .

Who Made What? Weekends! Party #12!

2011-03-03T23:59:00.015+02:00

Wow, where did this week go?! I thought I'd have more time to create some more things! Maybe next week...hehe.

But anyway...! Before we get on with the party, here is this week's feature...as voted for by YOU...from last week's link ups.....

Well done to Amy from AliLilly, who linked up her summery kiddie's bedroom wall art creation!

And this is why you don't throw away pieces of cardboard! :) Isn't this just so cute?
And she made cute little grass out of tissue paper:

She has a lot of interesting creations on her blog, so go check her out! And remember about her Etsy shop where she sells delightful beaded jewelleries!

Thanx so much to all those who linked up, I enjoyed checking out your creations, and thanx also to those who participated in the voting! :D I don't think it went too bad, so I'll be sticking to this voting thing for a while - I hope you had fun! :)

So please join me for my 12th Who Made What? Weekends! link up! :D

Little Kitty Card

2011-03-03T19:51:00.007+02:00

Just for fun, I made this little card that was inspired by Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog Challenge #49. (I didn't enter because you need to use a Cricut for the project) The challenge was a shaped card. So I made a kitty.

I cut out the shape with white card stock, glued on gold card stock on the front and added the embellishments - 6 pieces of string for the whiskers and a pink pearl for the nose, some moving eyes and a pink ribbon.

A simple and cute little card for any cat lover, hehe. :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

Fireflies & Jellybeans                                           Paisley Passions
Truly Lovely    I Heart Nap Time
Under The Table & Dreaming    .

Who Made What? Weekends! Party #11!

2011-02-24T23:59:00.001+02:00

Ish, I really haven't been very creative this week! Hopefully my creative mojo will return next week. :)

But now onto this week's feature from last week's link ups! Thanx so much to everybody who linked up, there was a new record of 32 link ups this time, wee hee! :D There were a lot of lovely and cute creations last weekend! But, for the last time, I've chosen one of MY favourites to feature (see why below!) - I especially invited her to link up one of her creations, because I think it is amazing! I'm sure you will too....so....this week's feature is.....

...these beautiful flowery creations from Neryal over at The Art Of Sugar Floristry!
Just look at these amazing flowers that she's made from gum paste (if I have that correct)! Some of my favourites:

Are they gorgeous or what?! And they couldn't look more real...

To see more, go visit her blog - you won't be disappointed! :)

And now, let's get on with the party! This week I'm trying something new - from now on YOU'LL be voting for your favourite link ups, and I'll feature the one most voted for! I hope you'll participate and find this more fun! :) So let's see how it goes this week. Can't wait to see what y'all have to link up this weekend! :D

. .

Bloggie Bestie Blog Swap - Featuring Truly Lovely!

2011-02-23T23:59:00.032+02:00

Today I'm happy to be doing a Bloggie Bestie Blog Swap with Kassi, one of the sisters from Truly Lovely! Some of you undoubtedly already know about her and her blog, but if you don't, take a few minutes to read about her sweet self here and check out her fun blog! :) I'm also doing a short feature of my blog over at Truly Lovely today! (well, as of 8AM Truly Lovely's time) :)

She's also relatively new to blog land, so I know she would be excited if you paid her a visit and leave some comment love to let her know you were there! She'd love to make new friends and followers! :)

Sooo......Meet Kassi......!

Hello friends and followers of Naturally Me Creations!!!

I am so excited to be here, blog swapping with Miss Monique!

PLEASE, PLEASE don't brush aside this post as, 'It's just a guest blogger... No Monique loveliness today'... and then carry on through your blog roll!

That would make me so sad!!

I am thrilled to get the chance to share a little about myself and my blog with you lovely Naturally Me readers, so PLEASE stick around!!!

My name is Kassi! I, along with my sister, Kayli, produce Truly Lovely!!

Yep, that's me!!! ;)

It's a blog about the things that we find to be well... Truly Lovely! ;)

We've only been blogging for a few short months, but like most things we Laney Sisters do, we jumped in head first!!

AND we love it! We love the community, sharing ideas, and learning new things from other bloggers, like Miss Monque!!

The things that we find to be Lovely include crafts, such as these personalized tile coasters that I made as a cheap, easy, but still lovely gift!

Or this upcycled purse that Kayli fancied up with some fun flowers!

We also enjoy sharing our favorite recipes... Which have included these tasty Mint Oreo Brownie treats!!

Besides our crafting and cooking endeavors, we share little tid bits of our lives, which at the moment revolve around Kayli graduating high school and picking a college. As well as my wedding planning for this summer!

We also love showing off YOUR projects, so we host a fun linky party every Friday, with our favorites featured every following Monday!

We would love to see you link up tomorrow at Fancy This Fridays!!!

*wink wink*

Like I said, we're new to the blogging world and we would love for you to stop by and share a little encouragement!

We newbies can use all the help we can get!

Thanks to Miss Monique for blog swapping with us today!

We think Naturally Me Creations is TRULY LOVELY!!

You can get your daily fix of Monique over at our blog, Truly Lovely right now!!!

We hope you'll stop by and say hi!

And all you lovely Truly Lovely ladies stopping by, we know Miss Monique would love having you as a new follower! We love you, so she will too!!

Happy Thursday friends!!!

Gold Leaf Card

2011-02-21T16:20:00.005+02:00

Not real gold leaf...just gold paper and leafy punch outs. :)

I made this card for The Hot Spot's Natural Elements Challenge!

For the natural elements, I used white cotton paper, and the little white flower in the centre is carved from shell! (and some green leaf punch outs to represent nature too):

I punched out the leaves, arranged them on the cotton paper, as well as around the centre flower after I used a green ink pad to colour them. I also punched out a small flower shape, inked it with the same brown ink as I used for the card edge, and glued it on before glueing on the shell flower. As for the cotton paper, I wet and tore it to get that effect.

I inked the edges of the card with a brownish ink, glued on gold card stock, added a strip of stripy decorated brown paper and some pearls.

I must have had card makers block, since it took me about 2-3 days to finish up this card, hehehe.

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

All Things Heart & Home The Trendy Treehouse
Blue Cricket Designs .

ENTERED into:

The Hot Spot (Natural Elements Challenge) AllSorts Challenge #91

Blog Candy Giveaway at Crafts/Friends/Angels!

2011-02-21T11:24:00.000+02:00

In celebration of her upcoming b'day, Theresa over at Crafts/Friends/Angels is having a blog candy giveaway! How sweet is that?! :D

Here's a peek at the blog candy:

3 Bunches of flowers

Assortment of Flatback Pearls

Assortment of Gems

Pearl Stems

Buckles

Brads

Crystal Headpins

Glitter x 2

Craft Wire

Miniature stars

"Happy Birthday" Embossing board

Background Posy Stamp

Large buckles

Flower Soft

What fun candy! :D
All you have to do to enter the giveaway is become a follower, post about her blog candy giveaway like this, and leave her a comment! And do it before 16 March 2011! :)

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Who Made What? Weekends! Party #10!

2011-02-17T23:59:00.037+02:00

-------->PLEASE READ HERE QUICK! :)<--------

Before I begin with the feature and linky party, I've been thinking of incorporating a voting system, so that you guys can vote for your favourite creations submitted here, and then I'll feature the creation most voted for - this just sounds more fun to me. :D Would any of y'all take part in something like that? Please leave me a comment and let me know, thanx! :)

Now, onto featuring YOUR creation from last week's link up! :)

Thanks to everybody who submitted, there was a new record of 27 LINK UPS! Hehe....it's growing slowly but surely... :D There were so many cute and lovely creations linked up...but....I chose a super cute one to feature this week:

These adorable little Valentine's Matchboxes by Veronica from Life In The Thrifty Lane! :D

Aren't they too sweet?! :D And you can decorate little match boxes for any occasion, not just Valentine's, and fill them with all sorts of cute stuff! :)

Visit her blog to see everything that she's up to - from gifts to home decor and organzing and more. :)

So....let the party begin! :D

By linking up you give me permission to post photos from your blog in my weekly features - credit will be given to you of course!

Home Chores Chart

2011-02-17T01:57:00.015+02:00

I'm probably one of the worst (part time) housewives one can find...it's not that I don't want a tidy house...it's just that I'm not motivated enough to do something about it most of the time! :0 Thing is, I've always thought of Saturdays as house cleaning days, which meant that I'd leave ALL the chores for Saturday, which of course then made it seem overwhelming for me...hehe.

So I devised a fun little plan to make it less overwhelming, by making this little chart (which hopefully I'll stick to!)

The chores are the pebbles on the left side, and the idea is to place a couple of chores on each day, so that you just have 1 or 2 to do on any given day, so house cleaning doesn't feel so bad anymore...hehe. :)

Here's how I made it:
I cut out a frame from a thin corrugated card board, cut out little rectangles of patterned scrapbook paper and glued them on around the frame by layering them over each other (I chose a kitty theme because I have a few kitty themed stuff laying around and I wanted to use 'em already!):

Then I just had to trim the sides to make it neat:

I glued some scrapbook paper on behind the frame to make the background:

I cut out little kitty shapes from scrapbook paper and glued them on - one for each day of the week, and then stamped the week day on 'em - so I finally got to use my week day stamps! :)

As for the chores, I wrote them all down on white printer paper and cut them out more or less to match the size of the little glass pebbles I was using:

And I modge podged them onto the pebbles - first adding a layer of modge podge to the back of the pebble (1), then sticking on the paper face down, and finishing it off with another layer of modge podge (2). After it dried, I stuck on self adhesive sheet magnet that I cut to size to fit the pebbles:

I also added strips of magnet to the back of the frame so that I could stick it on my fridge (which is why the pebbles needed magnets too):

HOWEVER! It turns out this sheet magnet isn't strong enough to hold the pebbles onto the chart through the layers of paper, so I'm going to have to find stronger magnets before I can actually use 'em. *sigh*...

To decorate the frame further, I added some fabric flowers that I made. I've been looking for a reason to make these fun little flowers again, so I decided this project was it. :D I cut out 3 different sized circles from the fabric and singed the edges with a candle flame - each flower containing one of each of the sizes. Then I layered the petals and sewed them together in the centre, and glued on a bling:

I glued them to the frame with ordinary craft glue, and finally added some 3D kitty stickers.

And that's my cute little chart! :D Anyway, not the most useful of projects, but it was fun to make (and will hopefully serve some purpose to me, hehe). :)

LINKY PARTIES linked to:

We Are That Family                                        Sew Woodsy
Night Owl Crafting    Creations By Kara
Waking Lucia    Fireflies & Jellybeans
Somewhat Simple The Shabby Chic Cottage
Scrappy Gifts    Momnivore's Dilemma
All Thingz Related .

SUBMITTED to:

Crystal's Craft Spot Feb Craft Club Project