Tando Wall Hanging

Morning all I am up on the Tando blog with my wall hanging today.  The challenge was to use a chippie that was designed for a different purpose, so this one was designed to be used as a bowl or a frame, but I separated the sections out and used some of the larger ones to make this wall hanging as a gift for my mother-in-law.

I started by covering the hearts in white gesso and then once that was dry some crackle paint, and then once that was dry I inked it with tea dye distress ink to bring out the crackles.  I used Basic Greys Shine On collection, and started by backing my hearts with the papers, I then added the photos and made paper chevrons, to point to the photo in each frame, then washi tape, stickers and embellishments as well as lots of sequins!  I also used some Tando chipboard bunting, I inked in rainbow colours through the harlequin mask and then chopped it in half to use on the bottom and top heart.  The last step was to added a few gesso smears to my paper.

Talking about rainbows I'm having a double post today as they are up on Trends on Tuesday over at Made by A Trip Down Memory Lane - here is the link for that.

MME and Simple Stories Cards

Here are a couple of cards that I made with the MME Lost and Found 3 papers from ATDML- the 1st one used some nesting scallop punches that I got for Christmas, I also used the punch to make the flower - I punched out the scallop and then used some scallop edge scissors to cut more of a spiral shape into and then trimmed part way down each scallop (hope that makes sense!).  I then coiled it up and added a pearl in the centre, some sheer ribbon and a bit of left over hessian and the sentiment.

For this card, I just layered up all my off cuts and stitched them, added some co-ordinations which I sanded to show the red and a Tando butterfly - I inked this red, then embossed with clear embossing powder and sprinkled a little glitter in to made a girly card.

And I am not sure that I showed you the cards I made with the lovely Simple Stories Snap papers - I went for a really boy one first using the Awesome papers, and cut out a bingo card, used some of the stickers and a little bit of garden twine and tissue tape - with a spritz of mist in the background...and

A more girly one, with one of the polaroids from the Snap range, and butterflies :)

So lots of cards, which is a little unusual for me!

The Orbit

 I recently discovered some of my Olympic photos....which I hadn't scrapped (hangs head ashamedly) so this is my page for this weeks sketch over at the Studio (which is based on one of Daphne's lovely pages) and using some of my favourite Glitz papers (however with all that I am still not that sure about the page - don't know what somewhere in the the combination of colour and photo - or it could be something else!).

I cut out and embossed some more hexagons with the cuttlebug swiss dots embossing folder, I also embossed my thin yellow strip (by very carefully cutting a small slit in the hinge of my embossing folder!).  I layered up all my pieces as per the sketch, had a go with my glitz roller stamp with white ink on vellum (love that effect) and added some more chevrons to the piece.  I scattered some sequins and had a go at some stitched arrows too - they are really easy to sew - I made my self a little template and then stuck it with washi on the page, punched through the holes with my needle and then stitched in blue embroidery thread.  The last few bits were some Simple Stories sticker words and MME All is Bright Washi tape.

If you'd like to see the other beautiful pages over at the Studio here is the link

All the embossing and the white chevrons.

a little close up of the arrow stitching.

Some more layering and the alphabet stickers.

Also my friend Dawn is having a giveaway on her blog...here are the goodies

She is a super scrapper and bakes some amazing goodies...as well as doing all sorts of other crafty things too so do check out her blog here.

Run and Jump

Here is another page I made with the lovely MME goodies I was sent last month by Mel and Jill - I love the colours and designs, so I started the page with the chevron background.  I started my layering with some vellum - I am really enjoying using it as an extra layer on my projects - I embossed the sheet in stages in my cuttlebug using the swiss dots embossing folder which is fairly easy to line up so you can have a continuous pattern.  I made a template for the main mounts behind the photo -  I cut them out in a large label shape that was big enough for my photos - I used some Jenni Bowlin packaging to get the curved edges.  I distressed the edges using some water and then sanding and inking and a little punching with my ek success circular book pull out punch.  I added a paper ribbon under the photo, some Tando chipboard and MME co-ordinating stickers, then washi tape and vellum at the top and bottom of the page.  If you want to check out anymore MME inspiration here is a link to the gallery.

These are still photos from last years holiday we had a gorgeous pool which the kids spent time in most days!

Things to do when it rains!

 Morning everyone, I have been busy working on pages for different projects as well as lots of work and been neglecting my blog a bit...but today is my 'trends' post over on the Made by ATDML blog and I realised that I hadn't shared my page from the last one.

The papers are a mix of Pink Paislee's Portfolio and then some Echo Park Everyday Eclectic and MME in there too so it is a complete mix of manufacturers.  I wanted to have a play with some of the new Glitz roller stamps - I have the chevron and camera one at the moment (notice I say at the moment...there may be more :)).  I love the ombreish effect you get as you roller and the ink fades, so on this page I used my chevron roller as one of the borders at the edge of the page and then with yellow ink to make an arrow (larger ink pads are easier to roller on - the yellow one was a cats eye size pad and that took a while!).  I added a strip of the camera stamp down the side of the photo and then used it to make my wood veneer camera embellishment.  I created a little background with lots of the cameras on and then punched out a circle, wrapped some twine around it and added a Studio Calico camera.

So on to the photo - this was our very wet holiday on the Isle of Wight last year, on one of the nicer days (slightly drier) we went to a country fair and my son had a go in the lucky dip and won a set of animals....so when it started raining again it was back to the tent and have a play with the new goodies - kept him occupied for a while....also Pit - super game, though noisy but a great crowd pleaser on a wet day :)

Here is the link to todays post over on the ATDML blog and if you want to check out my roller post from a couple of weeks back here is a link to that.

Mum and Me

This weeks theme on the Tando blog is Mums, in preparation for the big weekend.  I had this photo, which I really like of Mum and I on the beach in Naples.

 I started by having a go at just using stamps and ink as Emilie Chamel often challenges us to do, I used a swirly flower stamp which I made a little mask for and then stamped all around the photo area.  I mimicked the colours in my swimming costume, so reds, browns and beige (and a little yellow).  I used distress stains and ink pads with a water brush to colour in all the flowers, I then used some of the excess ink to add some splatters around the page.  A quick strip of washi tape at the top and bottom of the card stock...and then the Tando leaf flourish - I still love this piece, I covered it with green distress ink and then coloured the veins that are marked in on the piece with a brown pro marker.  The title is from the simple stories snap pack of alphabets and I just outlined this with gel pen.

I am not a massive stamper on pages, but I loved the effect and I need to dig them out a bit more and have a play with this.  

Also a new challenge has gone up on the Tando Challenge blog using flowers this month so you might want to check that out too.

Meeting the Mice

Another Florida page...our Micky and Minnie shot using the lovely MME Lost and Found 3 papers...this was a very punchy and die cut page, I started using my spellbinders doily die cuts and then made a label shaped mount that I edged with pleated punched cream paper.  Lots of layers of paper and another punched strip behind the photo, you can just about make out the pull out journal spot behind the photo, and then a little strip of prima lace and one of the flowers.  I also added a little crumpled vellum behind the photo and for my title so that the letters weren't all at different heights!

The papers were all part of my kit from ATDML this month and it really pushed me to have a go at some pink with a boyish page...I know others find that really easy but it is a challenge just to get my kids to like it after it has been pinked!!!

Rocket Facts

Hello everyone, I have a new very layered page for the challenge over at the Studio blog.  This fortnights one is a recipe challenge.....you must include

kraft paper

paint or ink

2 different alphabets

a tag

I started with the kraft cardstock and some of my favourite Midway papers by October Afternoon.  I also found a great little tutorial on pinterest to make my own stencil background for my silhouette....it is so straight forward, just a font and a curved edge square (why didn't I think of that!).  I backed some of the stencil letters with the papers and then looked at my photo mount.  At this stage I still hadn't made the tag, so I decided to use my photo mounts as large tags, and then stuck some layers in there like an OA sticker, some dictionary paper and then a little glassine envelope which houses the journalling...which is another tag shape.  I hole punched and threaded some seam binding through the photo mounts.  I used a couple of the borders from the border strip paper, a little bit of washi and added some splatters of slightly watered down acrylic.  The alphabets are both by October Afternoon - one is their mini market type and the other is from the midway collection pack.

The photos aren't the best and as they are mostly just green and blue I wanted to add lots more colour to the page which is why I went with the primary colours of the Midway collection.  Last year we went to the Isle of Wight and visited the Battery on the needles where we discovered that they had had a go at launching rockets and satellites but that all got abandoned not long after it had begun.  It was a great, though somewhat windy place to visit and the kids loved the interactive displays.