I heart snow

Here is one of 3 pages that I did as guest designer at A Trip Down Memory Lane this month.  The galleries focus is on BoBunny papers and I was sent the beautiful Serenity collection.  The papers are based on Chinese designs with lots of Cherry Blossom, and the colours are really rich (I particularly like the turquoise blue paper - it's beautiful).  Despite the papers being very Spring like I decided to show that you could use them on any occasion so I choose one of my snow photos as the colours in my son's hat go really well with the red in the papers.

For this page I kept the photo very central and I layered up lots of snippets of the different papers behind the photo, inking and distressing the edges.  I cut out a banner at the base which I stitched and placed the title on.  I'm also enjoying adding strips to the top and bottom of my pages with little decorations, so I stitched some on.  I punched lots of snowflakes out of a glassine bag, and then lightly stuck them on with repositional glue, once I had done this I stitched through them to hold them in place.  The final additions were my stamped title and some blue and red flicks of cosmic shimmer.

The gallery is packed with fantastic projects using other ranges from BoBunny so if you would like some inspiration click here and there is a sketch challenge on the blog too...I'll be back with a page that I made on that too :)

Felt Flower Tutorial at It's a Creative World

Thank you for all your congratulations and warm wishes on my last post.  Today is my turn over on the It's a Creative World blog and I have done a tutorial to make these really easy felt flowers - they are made out of 6 circles of felt (you can die cut or just cut them) and a needle and thread - that's it.  I used them as an Easter present for nieces and made them into hairbands and bracelets, but you could use them on bags and boxes, as broaches all sorts.  Here is the link.

Bo Bunny Birthday Card and Exciting News

Here is a card....but I have some exciting news to share 1st.......I am so excited as A Trip Down Memory Lane (one of my favourite shops) has asked me to join their design team :).  This month you can see some of my pages and cards over in their gallery - they sent me a fantastic pack of gorgeous BoBunny papers which you can see above.  

Having enjoyed my last few ventures into card making I thought I would have a go at a challenge, and as I had some BoBunny Serenity papers left over from the lovely pack sent to me by A trip Down Memoy Lane I decided to make up a card with the left overs too.  The challenge was to use something from nature on your card....so I have a rock, some sticks and rosemary (so it has a lovely aroma too :)).  I love the turquoise blue Bo Bunny paper, so made this my central piece.  I drew around a circle and cut it out, then cut up a doily to make some edging (mainly as I was at my local craft group and didn't have a lacey punch to hand - there is that thing about going out crafting...you take loads that you don't use and then don't have the one thing you decided you would like!! :D).  I then added some of the extra Chinese writing pieces you get on the journal block page, added a hat pin and a Martha Stewart butterfly.  I tied up my rock and garden goodies which all stuck on really well with silicon glue.  I backed the card with the red polka dot paper and printed Happy Birthday on the another scrap.  I'm making lots of birthday cards as these are the ones that I get through really quickly so I might actually have a small selection for when I need one.

The challenge is open all month if you want to join me.

Bursting with Laughter

This is my take on Shimelles 2nd Challenge which was to use papers from 3 or more different manufacturers.  So the papers 1st are Amy Tangerine's, Crate Paper Farmhouse and Sassafras' Indie Girl (I still have a few scraps of it left).  I chose the papers based on the colours in the photo.  

The photo is another shot of me in the park, and it looks like I am playing that slap hand game with my Dad, so my Mum must have snapped this shot.  The original is very orange, so I altered the colours as best as I could on photoshop and got it printed.  I love the photo as I am bursting with laughter and I love these moments.

For a change I didn't distress the edges of my papers on this page, but I had to stitch them :)  I started with several strips of paper and then layered them up behind the photo, I also added some Martha Stewart Paper tape too, and a small ticket I got in a kit.  The die cut clouds are from Amy Tangerine, and the stickers are a mix of Authentique mini alphabets and AC thickets (I had to make the r again, this time out of a b).  I used some pink prima flowers...which I have been looking for a page to use them on, and some flicks of blue patina glimmer mist.

It was a really quick page to put together and I like, and just love all the inspiration from Shimelle.  Not sure whether I will manage any more but I think I will go back and pick up on some of the challenges.

Happiness is...

Here is my page for the 1st of Shimelles challenges which was to be inspired by a wonderful page by Jamie Warren.  I've used my new Crate Paper Pretty Party papers (love them which you can find here), and I had a go at making some folded chevrons (thank you for the tip Daphne) here is the link to the tutorial.

I started the page by dry brushing on some gesso in the centre and in all 4 sides.  I then started making my chevrons - I just used the 6" pad with 2" strips and then I stitched them down the middle.  Once the paint was dry I added some torn glassine envelope over the middle section of my page and then layered up the chevrons, I added a dictionary page and the photo and one of the flower embellishments from the range.  Behind the photo I tucked some journalling on a tag.  One of the papers in the kit is all tags, so I cut out a few and stitched around the edges, layering them up.  I also stitched the word Love on one in Amy Tangerine style :)  I layered up oddments of paper and some of the stickers just to add some more colour and layers, and then a few Prima gems.

I am really pleased with this page, I love this photo of my Dad and me - it's one of those candid snapshots where he is sporting his moustache (which is not a handle bar one apparently :)!)

Just finished off another page from the challenges, and got some new stash in the post so might even manage another page this week - I am loving it.

Hold on Tight

Shimelle had her weekend cybercrop...and I am loving all her challenges, I have done 2 pages now and there is another one on my desk, if only I could scrap quicker and manage all 16 before next weekend :D  Here is the 1st page that I tried (though not her 1st prompt) and it is to use yellow, grey and one other colour.  I have to confess to not being overly keen on the page which is why I'm showing it 1st as I like the other page better and I can pop that on my blog tomorrow!!  My other colour was pink and it a big an bold way.

The papers I have used are October Afternoons Farmhouse range, and the pink is by DCWV I also echoed a little more of the pink on the Authentique journal spot.  I cut the title out - having carefully drawn it free hand and then backed it with the OA papers.  I used the American Crafts arrow stamp which I embossed with white embossing powder - I also did this to the OA doily stamp down the bottom.  I stitched and wrinkled as usual and added some glassine paper and a little bit of dictionary paper - the word I looked up was bumpy as this ride was VERY bumpy and shook you around, much to the delight of my kids. 

Anyway despite not loving the pink I really enjoyed making it here is a link so you can go and see what everyone else has been creating and get involved too.

Oh Happy Day

I know Spring is here...it's getting warmer, but I still have some gorgeous winter photos to use on my pages!!!  Here is my page for the latest challenge over at the studio blog....all you have to do is use a song as a title for your page, and you are in with a chance to win a gift voucher for Craft Island.  So my song - Oh Happy Day...it was the one that immediately sprang to mind when I looked at this photo, it is mid snowball fight and I am not sure what my son is giggling at but he is loving it.  This was a good use up page for me, I had some of the hexagons left over from my last snow page, I layered up a mix of Crate Papers Farmhouse and their new Pretty Paper collection.

I start by layering all my pieces on the page 1st, and then decided to free stitch some circles at either corner, so I lightly drew these on and then removed all my bits of paper (I only stick them down when I have to and am totally happy with where bits are).  I just removed the foot from my sewing machine and then stitched away (it did take me the 1st circle to realise that I didn't need to actually turn the paper around in circles to stitch this way too!). I then inked, stitched and distressed all my bits of paper and started sticking them down.  I made some bunting using the lovely chipboard pegs I have been saving, and made some glassine snow flakes.  I also added some hand stitching to the hexagons too.  I picked up some great arrow paper clips from paper chase...and they worked with my colour scheme (that must have happened subconsciously :D), as well as adding a Tim Holtz ticket tag for my journalling.  The alpha is a mix of Amy Tangerines and Echo Park for the record's sticker sheet.  My last additions were some flicks of white acrylic and red glimmer mist.

Here is a link to the blog to see all the other beautiful pages that the ladies have created, hope it inspires you.

Focus

Hello everyone, I know I've been missing a bit with Easter and the holidays, but I have managed a couple of pages so here is the 1st, I hope you enjoy it.  

I decided to have a go at the new My Minds Eye challenge which is to use hexagons.  I'd seen a page with lots of small circles laid out in a grid and decided to adapt it to hexagons, so my idea has evolved.  I've used the lovely MME kraft funday collection. This isn't the best photo as it was indoors on Christmas day and my son is incredibly focused constructing a spherical puzzle he got in his stocking.

I used a template for my hexagons, and some of them I cut out and filled with confetti - I made it using some small punches and then covered the inside layer in glue and layered it all in.  Another lovely technique I have seen recently is layering up lots of punched strips of kraft paper so I used my martha stewart lace punch and covered a couple of hexagons this way - I love the texture it gives.  I also layered a few of the gutted hexagon pieces on some of my hexagons and then carefully laid them all out in a grid with lots of measuring!  The photo I matted on some red card and then cut strips of the kraft funday paper which I layered behind - I inked and distressed these, then I added a layer of glassine paper and a strip of tissue tape with a twine flower.  I stitched a paper banner on the sewing machine and draped that around the photo and in the top corner.  My final touches were white flicks of paint (I love how it stand outs on kraft papers) and some chipboard Lush letters which I inked a little so the blue wasn't quite so bright.

I had lots of fun making this and here is a link to the challenge if you fancy digging out those hexagons (mine are all hand cut - I do have a die cut machine but couldn't work out how to make a perfect hexagon shape....tho somehow managed to work out how to do it on paper!)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone, I hope you all have a great day and as much Chocolate as you want :) It is my turn for a post at It's a Creative World so I have made this Easter card, there are more details and photos over on the blog. The papers I have used for this are October Afternoons Farmhouse, and that lovely border die is by spellbinders (my Mother in Law let me have a play with it when we went to visit).

Tower Bridge

Here is my page for April 1st's studio challenge.  These photos seemed a great excuse to dive into the Portabello Road collection from Papermania. The photo is from a recent trip to tower bridge (see my previous post too), this one documents some of the beautiful city skyline you get to see from the bridge. For the page I started with cutting and mounting my photos on white card stock and then inked around the edge with tea dye distress ink. I then cut some strips of paper to go behind the photo, so these strips are just under 2" wide and varying lengths, I inked and crumpled the edges too. When I had worked out where those were going I used a doily as a mask and then used some broken china distress ink and rubbed it through using a makeup sponge so there is a subtle hint of a mask on my white card stock (and using ink so another bit of the challenge done). I cut a couple of vertical strips and one I used my ek success book pull out punch, again inking it, I also used washi tape to stick it down (as part of the challenge). I added a layer of some torn glassine envelopes and used a friends Memory Box border die (thank you Shelia...who did infact die cut it for me too). I die cut some kraft doilies (using MME kraft funday papers) and spellbinders iron work die (ticking another one of the challenge), I wove some twine in too (another part of the challenge too). Over on the other side of the pictures I used the scallop square shape that came with the portabello papers as a template and made my own, then stuck some star buttons and a die cut star (another but to include). I added some strips to the top and bottom of the paper which I stitched and some flicks of blue and red cosmic shimmer. So just in case you have missed the challenge...it is to include 3 of the following - kraft paper twine die cuts star ink. If you would like to join us then please do here is the link and the prize this month is a £10 voucher for Craft Island