Another flower necklace and a gift tag

Oh... I love these flower necklaces... I tried one in a plum colour...

... and could not resist trying one of these gift tags too!!  They are so cute!

A flower necklace taking shape...

Me, my aunt, Yvonne and my nephew's wife, Julia, had a little craft share visit this morning.  Julia told me about the flower necklaces she's made her friends for Christmas.  It looked so beautiful, that I just had to try one myself!  I showed her the Snowflake pattern from Attic24, which she on turn tried out.  My aunt is knitting the coolest socks for those long cold winters' nights...

To the end of our visit I had finished the neck strings, as well as the flower of the necklace and Julia had nearly finished her version of the snowflake... this was fun!

On getting home, I sewed away all the loose wool ends and placed the flower and bottons on their places...

...it was all ready to wear!

This beauty was my inspiration found via Ravelry from the website of creativeyarn.blogspot.com

A pic of the lovely snowflake pattern from attic24.com

These beauties were made by my aunt as gifts to us! They are nice and long and super warm.

Preparing for our 1st Home Bazaar...

A while ago... we had fun preparing handmade products for our first Home Bazaar... There were also lots of stress to have everything ready within our limited time frame...

A friend and I took an evening to play with air dry clay...

...and we made Christmas tree decorations (or it can also be used to decorate gifts)...

...then I played with paper and washi tape... 

... to make some gift tags...

... and although I do not have much confidence in my fabric sewing skills... I saw a pic in my head ... and just had to try and make it in fabric...

...it ended up being 2 tray cloths...

It was like competing in my own personal creative marathon!  Very nice to think I accomplished a lot in a very short time... but also very stressful!  Will definitely be thinking twice before saying yes to an idea a month and a half before the actual event - all the more so when the event is taking place at your place!  Pictures of the event to follow soon...

Crochet fun... for a good cause

A friend of mine had a wonderful idea a while back.  She suggested we as friends organize  a charity market/bazaar.  As we spread this idea quite a few people shared our enthusiasm and we are looking forward to our first 'Home Bazaar' on 1 Des!  The purpose of the bazaar is for everyone to hand make either eats or hand crafts.  Everyone participating will have a chance to nominate a charity of their choice and on the event there will be a lucky draw to identify the charity that will receive the profit...

So I began crocheting!

These lovely pattern for a flower coaster I found in Mollie Makes issue 20.  I made it with a cotton twine, using a 4mm hook.  I left out the last round, as I liked the edge more defined with the flowery pattern.  I made 2 batches of 6 coasters each and plan on doing another batch or 2...

Then in the new Ideas magazine I found patterns for these cute picture frames and could not resist trying them out...  At the moment I only have one of each and will have to focus if there are to be a few of them at our bazaar!

I'm still planning on trying out a very simple idea for a place mat...   My mom's started up her cross stitching again and is making lovely reindeer images in wooden loops, ideal for christmas decorations.  Another friend has made 19 strawberry jam jars and preserved a few jars of beetroot.  There are going to be lots of typical South African bazaar eats and I am so looking forward to decorating the tables... There will also be lots of bunting in the trees to add to the festive atmosphere...  

I cannot wait!

Flowers... flowers... everywhere...

Today we visited the Elgin valley... about an hours drive from Cape Town.  They are showing their beautiful gardens... We drove from one open-garden to the next and each had their own charm and loveliness... I enjoyed taking these pictures...

My favourite rose, the Icecream Floribunda

A lovely pin cushion protea

A lovely delicate poppy...

The 'My Granny' rose

We had some delicious cupcakes and tea late afternoon... and had this beauty on our table...

Flower-ballet??

...detail of a painting by Bert Touwen

Painting on ceramics

A few friends and I made a creative date about a month ago... to have some fun at the 'Clay Cafe' in Houtbay close to Cape Town.  The day turned out to be so much fun!

... the venue is SO beautiful...

...we could choose between paintbrushes, ceramic colour paints and other tools ... as to create your own 'personalized' ceramic item...

Helena chose to decorate a cup... 

Sanet at work (or is it rather 'at play'?)...

Hannelore was very prepared and brought with a beautiful stencil...

Karen writing some beautiful words from Sabrina Ward Harrison in her little jar...

(..."I want to find rooms inside myself")

While playing... girls have to eat as well!... ;)

Hannelore's pasta bowls taking shape...

A fun quote from one of Sabrina Ward Harrison's books... as written by Karen in her blue plate...

Another word plate by Sanet

Hannelore's finished pasta plates... 

...my 'less is more' bowls...

...my bowl with words from Natalie Goldberg ... "we are important and our lives are important, magnificently really, and their details are worthy to be recorded"

Betsie made a beautiful flower plate...

...on my way home after a wonderfully shared creative experience... these colourful clouds came to show themselves...

Now we must  w a i t  .... and in 2 weeks time we can collect our 'masterpieces' :)