You're So Sweet

I delved into some more of my Crate Paper Farmhouse collection for a photo of my DS on holiday and his cheeky smile - we are sat in the town square and they had been playing all sorts of hiding games and just messing around before we got some evening snacks in.  

I've seen a few pages with rows of banners underneath - can't find any links to say where I saw them, but that was my inspiration.  Also part of the November challenge over on We Scrap was to use some material on a page, so I decided to use up some more of the massive piece of Burlap that I have.  I cut a mixture of flags and crumpled and inked the edges.  Next I added 2 lines of green stitching, and then zigzaged in and out with yellow thread, adding a brown button on either side.  I mounted the photo on white card stock, inked around the edges.  Then I started to layer up the pieces behind the photo starting with the doily and acetate from one of Hannah's grab boxes which is also where the cake, flowerk, doily piece and journal piece came from.  I used my Martha Stewart Doily edge lace punch on a couple of pieces of left over card, , added these and some of the stickers and die cut pieces from the farmhouse collection as well as the American Crafts cupcake.  The title is from the Farmhouse chipboard .... and one more credit goes to my sister-in-law as the red crochet flower you can see under the blue and green on is one she made for me.  I added a few splats of paint and some tiny buttons and the journalling ticket behind the photo.

Traditions

We Scrap have a November challenge and one of them was for a photo-less page, so I decided to have a go using some more of the papers from my Handmade Hannah Christmas Box.  I used the Teresa Collins number piece for the background and then added some brush strokes of gesso...and then sprinkled some glitter over the top, which you can't really see in the photos.  I made some smaller tags out of kraft paper, and stitched around the edge and added some ribbon to the middle.  Each tag represents a tradition at Christmas in our house from decorating the tree (another Michelle tree), advent candles from my Mum - which I made out of the pearls, and then cut a flame. Nativity productions represented with a star covered in glossy accents and then some more glitter, wrapping presents decorated with a paper bow.  Going to Church on the day itself - not having a stamp I had to draw this and then added some liquid pearls for the snow, then spending Christmas Day with the family - I stamped and cut out the word then added some little hearts decorated with glossy accents.  I made a little rolled banner to journal the tradition.  When it came to the title...I had run out of t's so I used the inverse of the sticker and then filled it with stickles glitter glue.  Here is a close up of a few of the tags and details.

Christmas 2010

Another page from Hannahs beautiful grab box Christmas kit.  I decided to make a page with a mix of shots from the Christmas period mainly as I didn't have enough really good ones to make a page, so I have my DS as a sheep in his nativity, one of my eldest in the snow and another one of the presents we unwrapped on our first family Christmas celebration (we normally end up with 2 celebrations as we live far apart).

For this I made a frame using a snowflake stamp that was in my previous grab box and some black memento ink.  I lightly drew the outline of the square and then stamped along the inside and outside edge using a piece of scrap paper to protect the kraft card to make my frame.  I used my gesso tub to draw the circles and then cut out the paper and photos.  I used pinking shears to cut the mounts for several of the circles too.  I had a go at making Michelles lovely and beautifully easy Christmas trees for my 1st circle and I used a mixture of embellishments and photos in the rectangle shape. I hand wrote some labels for the pictures. Then had a go at making a poinsettia style flower to keep in with the Christmas theme, though I think it needs some perfecting - it the same method as my rose tutorial, but just with a more poinsettia shaped flower. I used the lovely flock alpha and added some stickles and one of the snowflake stickers too. I've still got another page to show you, and lots of bits left over so I think I will make some cards and Christmas decorations too.

Stitched Christmas Tree tutorial

Here is my tutorial to show you how I made the Christmas tree embellishment on my page from Handmade Hannahs Christmas kit.

You will need

• Christmas tree die cut, or your own design
• needle
• 2 colours of green embroidery thread
• funky foam or an old mouse mat
• buttons or other embellishments

  1. Diecut/design your own Christmas tree, then using a piece of funky foam or an old mouse mat place your tree on top and pierce holes around the edge of the tree with a needle. I do this as the foam makes it easier to make the holes, and it is easier to stitch after you have made some guide holes.

 2. Using the lighter green thread sew all the way around the tree.

 3. Once finished, tidy up the ends and stick them to the back of the tree using some tape.

 4. The next step is to add the zig zags of thread. Using the darker thread, start by coming up through one of the holes near the base and then take it across the tree and underneath one of the outside stitches, then go across to another stitch and so on. As you get more threads across the tree start weaving them in and out.

 5. Once done take your thread back through one of the outside holes and secure it on the back with tape.

6. The final part is to add some more decoration to the tree, I chose some small buttons, though you could tie little bits of ribbon, or weave ribbon through, add glitter or beads. You could use this tree embellishment on cards and tags as well as scrap pages.

I hope you enjoy making them.

Now I am 6

Here is the page I did for Novembers colour challenge over on the crate paper blog.  The papers I have used are Farmhouse and a bit of the Random collection too, the colours were fuschia, orange and navy blue.  As you all probably know I have been doing Shimelles Pretty Paper Party and the inspiration for this page came from there too.  There was a great page by Rahel Menig where in the centre she had a mini-book that opened out a bit like this.  I started with making and layering up some banner pieces and then lightly glued and them down and stitched a couple of rows of stitching across.  The centeral photo matt is a piece of 12 by 5 and then I folded it into 3 sections, I mounted my photos on it, on both sides and saved a section for journalling (and the piece for sticking it to the back).

  I layered up die cuts and used my punches and placed small bits of paper behind the photo piece as well as lace.  I added a piece of dusty attic chipboard to the front and inked it with brown memento ink and then added some glitter using a quickie glue pen.  The final steps were to add some flicks of colour from my shimmer mists in orange, blue and fuschia.

And the best bit of news is that I got picked as the winner - soooo happy :)

All is Quiet

Here is my first page using Handmade Hannahs Christmas grab box (goes on sale Wed 15th November), it is packed with beautiful papers, tags and embellishments and a lovely flocked alphabet.  The only bits I added from my stash were the thread, buttons and stamped alpha.  

These pictures show the calm before the full eruption of Christmas in the house, the tree is decorated, the stockings are laden with presents........ then the celebrations begin. The page started with a great technique my friend Shelia showed me, you use a wax candle and then rub it over your paper with an embossing folder underneath (brass rubbing really) you then paint over it with distress stains - this one is vintage photo, and you can get a nice wax effect...so I rubbed over a woodgrain folder, but didn't leave it there with just the wax showing....I traced over the wax with my silver stickles to give the woodgrain effect. 

The papers are Teresa Collins and I ruffled, inked and stitched these (I was also quite frugal so the worded paper is cut in an L-shape to fit around the main paper).  I made up a piece of paper ribbon with the diamond check paper, I put pleats in it, and then added some of the lovely velvet ribbon and a brad to the end.  I also drew on a scallop and stitched over it with my sewing machine, then hung the stars from there.  I mounted the photos on white card and inked the edges with tea dye, then I set about making the Christmas Tree which I will save for another post and write up some instructions (as it would make a nice card or tag embellishment too).  I created a pocket behind the main piece of paper and used a tag for my journalling - I stuck another one of the words on the top of the tag and added some more velvet ribbon.  I stamped part of my title, mounting it on foam pads and then used the beautiful flock alphabet for the main word.  So that is my page - it is a beautiful kit and I have lots more plans for it.

Happiness is best shared

A while back I was really excited to be asked to join the challenge blog It's a Creative World and it's my first post today (big smile).  This is the page I have posted with some instructions for making the patchwork shapes and more detail about the LO (it's great for using up your paper scraps) - do hop over and have a look and let me know what you think here is the link -  It's a creative world patchwork page.

I need a Carry

This is a photo of my DH having to carry my DS as we were on a stoney beach and they kept getting in his crocs LOL. 

 For this page I used quite a few bits from my beautiful Handmade Hannah grab boxes, the doily is from the embellishments box, the date stamp is from her shop (I love it as you circle the date and add the year).  The Papers again are mostly from grab boxes, crate paper Portrait (designed for weddings but it is so versatile I love it) and there is a small scrap of glitz and American Crafts too.  The Rose embellishments are from the Portrait collection, and the chipboard is maya road and I managed to fit in a glassine pocket for my journalling.  The alphas are Echo Park for the record and the glitter one is American Crafts, the other stamps are MME.  So those are all the little bits.  

I started this page by using a Crate Paper die cut to fit my photo in and then I backed it with some of the green Portrait paper and edged it with scalloped scissors.  I cut up my papers and started layering them how I wanted them to look, once happy I inked the edge with black memento ink and then ruffled the edges.  I layered them all up and then sorted out the glassine pocket by folding the top over and stapling some string that could hook around the teal brad.  Then I started layering the embellishments,  I made some flags to go down the edge of the page and added bits of book paper to these, then I slotted in the doily and added a 3 embellishment combo which includes a snowflake :)   I ruffled and added a rose to the other side of the picture and a seagull pin I got in a quirky kit.  I then stamped my chipboard banner, 2 are stamped with a newspaper print in broken china distress ink, and then the centre one has the Boy stamp. I covered them in PVA to add a different texture to them and then added some book pages to the 2 print ones, and finally smeared some liquid pearls over the top to give a bit of shimmer.  I threaded through some twine and added the title and some more little blobs of liquid pearl.  

So this is my attempt at the layered page prompt for Shimelles pretty paper party, I concentrated on lots of layering as well as keeping it fairly simple in colour (not something I often do).  Hope you like it.

One Sunny Afternoon

This is another page using the Scrap Rat November kit, and I tried a grid style page for this one (which is very hard to photograph with out the gridlines looking a bit wonky as you have to be absolutely straight - so apologies).  I lightly drew the lines on with pencil and then stitched over them adding the odd bit of zig zag too.  It's quite a stitching page - my first time stitching photos (normally I don't touch the photos), I used up various pieces of paper that I had already cut into to make the squares and inked and stitched around them.  I made my own embellishment heart and stitched around this (I did machine stitch it 1st but it didn't look right, so I then hand stitched in the machine stitch holes).  

I used one square for my journalling, then added some of those 3D circles baubbleish embellishments - they are 2 circles creased down the middle, and stitched through the centre (I lightly glue then stitch them) and I used the prima alphabet in this square too.  Next one along and I had my pinking shears out to so some edging and used one of the flock rubons, down to the next line a Happy sticker from echo park mounted and edged with my pinking shears and stuck on 3D foam and a little flower and gem.

A few more shots from our canoe trip of everyone in the boat having lots of fun...still couldn't work out whether it was the kids or the adults who were more excited about getting out on the water :)

In the trees

Another page using my Scrap Rat kit, it is a shot of my DS on the tree walk at Kew Gardens.  I'm still using lots of the prompts and things I am learning from Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party, so I tried clustering and have used a photo that is smaller than 6 by4 too.The background is Echo Parks apothecary range.  I did flick a few bits of the peacock coloured cosmic shimmer across the page too to add some green.  I used my bind it all to give the notebook edge to the newspaper backing sheet, and then added layers of the echo park Times and Seasons papers behind the photo and stitched and ruffled them.  My pile of embellishments consists of some of the times and seasons stickers, and prima flowers and birds.  I placed a small piece of the news print paper in the frame...as I realised my off cut had the word son in it, I also added a flocked rub on to the corner.  I cut the bunting from the Crate random paper, and then die cut some stars with my cuttlebug and added gems to the centre and ran three rows of wiggly stitching across, then I added the title and just to emphasise it a bit more I stitched a few lines at the top and bottom, journalling to the side - so a fair amount of white space on a page for me

Family

Here is my 1st page made using the gorgeous November Scrap Rat Kit - it was lovely opening the box and seeing all the goodies and this month has lots of my favourite colours in it - the blues and teal green and some news print and that's just the papers.  As I am doing Shimelles's pretty paper party I had to have a go at the patchwork prompt she gave us, plus with the photo and the title (which came off a stamp) it all worked so well!  This is a shot of all of us on the tree walk at Kew Gardens...beautiful views but quite high up.  I started my page with a wash of peacock blue cosmic shimmer and added a few splats - to make it go further I used a fair amount of water on my brush. I wanted to try the diamond star shape, which I have seen on a few quilts, so cut out several diamonds in 2 sizes from different pieces of papers.  I then stitched around them.  I added a small group of flock rub ons in the corner of the photo - they are lovely and furry.  The flowers were in the kit, and I made some leaves out of the papers - I scored veins on them and inked them with green distress ink and some brown memento ink.  I die cut the family title, used the alpha stickers for the rest and then a couple of the other Echo Park stickers in the pack.