Sea Fishing

The new challenge up at the Studio is to use grids, and I found this the perfect way to use up lots of smaller left over pieces by cutting them into 1" squares.  The papers are all from the Teresa Collins Memorabilia range, which is gorgeous.

I worked out roughly where I wanted my grid shapes and then spritzed my paper with some Tattered Angels Blue patina glimmer mist.  I then stuck my squares down and stitched a grid pattern through them.  Behind the photo I layered up some gauze and then some of the die cut stickers that go with the paper and a little wood veneer boat.  On the other patch of squares I used one of the co-ordinating chipboard buttons and a wood veneer and some gems, which I also clustered near the photo too.  The title is a mix of the Simple Stories snap collection and some American crafts thickers.

We only went sea fishing once.....despite it being a beautiful day it was fairly cool on the pier and we didn't catch anything!  The kids loved having a go at casting as far as they could into the sea and we all went for ice cream afterwards!

If you would like to join us with the grid challenge, or see lots of beautiful pages then here is the link over to the studio.

In the Woods

This is one of the pages that I made with the August kit sent to me by Mel and Jill at ATDML - it was full of Prima papers from the Devine and Engraver collections.

I started this page with some scrapes of Gesso behind where the photo went (I used a palette knife), I then layered up a doily and several of the Prima papers - distressing, stitching and inking them.  I added a glassine envelope and K and Co tag for the journalling behind the photo.  I then wrapped my layers in three strands of green twine, tying them behind one of the Prima wooden buttons.  I added some flowers in the corner, using brads and one of my own clay (fimo) flowers- I bought some silicone moulds and you just push the clay in, then carefully ease it out and bake it in the oven until it is hard.  The hardest bit of making the flowers is getting a nice edge to them and trying to remove any excess bits of clay, so once I had taken the flower out of the mould I carefully went around with a craft knife removing any extra bits.  I also added into the flowers some hat pins and a spray of crystals that came from a Christmas cracker!  The bird is one of the prima canvas resist shapes, I inked it in brown and blue distress inks and it brings out the white pattern on them.  Final steps were the title which is from a Carta Bella sheet and a few drips of blue patina glimmer mist.

The papers are very gentle in colours so I went with a very natural gentle shot of my eldest out on a walk in the woods.  The journalling is about the walk, but also what he us up to now - as a little record.

I am also up on the Tando blog today with a battery operated tea light (see how many times I say battery operated to stress the no flames near paper thing).  Here is the link.

A couple of Cards

Here are a couple of cards that I made using the Fancy Pants Park Drive and then Trendsetter collections of paper.  The first card was made using lots of offcuts and the big camera stamp is by Simple Stories as well as the noteworthy stamp.  I layered up the papers, added some twine too, and inked all the edges.

I was a little more ambitious with the second card, making a kind of stepped card - I used some 12 by 12 and then created 3 sections of 4" - the last 2 sections I cut at an angle so when you fold it you get the steps.  I stitched and layered lots of the Trendsetter papers on my different panels, and some bunting and stickers.  I also used my circle and scalloped circle punches to decorate the front.

Little Moments

I created this page a little while ago using the etcetera collection from BoBunny - even though it is an older line I love the papers and vintage feel to it - I used it for an article on ATDML blog looking at stamping on pages (here is the link) and I also did a post looking a using some gold (here).

I started the page with some drips of Blue Patina glimmer mist - this paper really soaks it in, so it adds to the vintage look.  Then I started with my layers and roughly cut some hessian/burlap fraying the edges, then I used some of the journal cards (one of which was the inspiration for the title), lots of distressing and inking.  I also used some liquid pearls to add little pearl drops to the edges of some of the papers.  Once I had stuck the photo on top I went about making my own little kite, I cut out 2 kite shapes - cutting one into 4 and leaving the other whole, then mounted 2 of the triangles from the cut up shape onto the base kite using foam pads - I also doodled little triangles on it too.  I used wet glue and created a line to stick my pearl string too, tucking the end under the photo, I then made some bunting with stamped words for the kite too.  

This is my youngest earlier on in the year flying a friends kite on a beach....yes we do this a lot!

My Minion

A while back it was my youngest's birthday and he wanted a minion cake....my initial thoughts were - 'that isn't going to be easy', but here is my attempt made out of swiss roll (that I made) and cake I cooked in a domed bowl!  It did take 2 layers of icing, as the 1st one was too thin, but he was pleased with it.

I used lots of crate papers DIY shop and also the sketch over at the Studio blog - this is the challenge for the next fortnight.  I started with a little misting using yellow and the Tando tangled yarn mask and then added lots of layers behind my photo.  I made a little pocket for the journal tag behind the photo and tied it with some garden twine.  I used some of Crate Papers ephemera pack that goes with the collection, they have loads of beautiful die-cuts - like the typewriter and number 8.  As this is a birthday shot I made my own little set of balloons and tied them with twine, stapling them to the page.  I added few drips of ink and some sequins, as well as edging the top and bottom of the page with washi tape.  The alphabet is a mix of cosmo cricket tiny type and some American Crafts thickers in chipboard.

If you would like to join us over at the Studio then here is the link, there is also lots more inspiration over there too.

Just run

Here is a page I made for the BoBunny galley over at ATDML - it is a really simple page, mostly just some fussy cutting of the flowers.  

The papers are called Serenade and there is a whole sheet of the big beautiful poppies, and the smaller green flowers and yellow leaves.  When I cam to assembling the page I started with the garden twine circle - I used a plate to help work out the size and then stapled it on to the base sheet.  I then layered up all my flowers, using foam dots for some, then I scattered a few golden sequins in amongst them and that was it!  The alphabet is a mix of MME and Simple Stories, and the photo is of my kids (and their friends) on a walk with us...which they enjoyed running along!

My 2

I am on the Tando blog week starting with the theme of Family, so here are 2 of the members of mine, stood for a photo against a rather nice white wall at the Natural History Museum.  

I started the page by tearing a piece of card in half and then arranging it in a v shape on my page and covering the rest of the paper.  I used the Tando Tangled yarn mask too which I put in the middle of the v and then spritzed it all with a black glimmer mist.  I started layering up and distressing bits of paper, and added a layer of cardboard (if you strip as much as you can off the top of the cardboard and then spritz with a little layer of water you can get down to the corrugated centre quite quickly), and also some gauze to soften it all.  With the gauze and the card I find it easier to staple the layers together and then stick them to my page (and add a couple more staples behind the photo).  I also added in some lace and Crate Paper chipboard - all the papers are from Crate Papers DIY shop, there is also a little strip of the washi tape paper from the collection underneath the photo and I used some strips of paper punched with an eksuccess punch too.  I used one of the Tando chipboard star buttons, and covered it in yellow and gold gelatos (a waterbased pastel) and then added some silver in over the top too, threading it with twine and then making a pile of that twine behind the button.  There is a small scattering of paper pieces (the left overs from my punching) I just used a wet glue and random dots of it and then I sprinkled the paper over the top like glitter, though as I didn't have loads of it I also helped a few bits into place.  I used some thickers for the title, added my journalling and used a Dear Lizzy date stamp too.

A couple of other things for today - Ukscrappers is having a blog hop and there are loads of super tutorials and projects on there here is a link to the start.

Also the Studio Challenges are having a Design Team call and the deadline has been extended, please check it out over here.

Finally here is my link over to the Tando blog too which always has lots of ideas and inspiration here.

Kites

This fortnights word at the studio challenges is 'Wings' so my page is based on something that flies....and it's kites, my kids never tire of playing with them on the beach or anywhere.

I'd been looking through lots of the CHA brochures choosing papers for my ATDML retreat classes, and saw the beautiful Maggie Holmes fabric frames, so I did something similar out of paper and a new memory box little bunting die, so that is where I started with the page.  The papers are all Maggie Holmes' range by Crate paper and the slide is from the ephemera pack  in that range.  I layered up the frames with squares and distressed and inked all of them.  I  also added some splatters of watered down gelatos and used their little circle printing tool too for the larger circles.  I added some Tando clouds, I applied a thick layer of gesso to these so that they looked a little puffy, the only circle is a Websters pages sticker and I used a Websters alphabet and woodgrain heart. 

There is lots more inspiration on the blog if you would like to join us here is a link and we are also having a DT call if you fancy joining us for the challenges a little more often here.

Beach Love

I was up on the Tando blog on Saturday and the theme for the week is buttons.  I layer some Tando chippie buttons on some of their stars, and I got to have a play with some gelatos with them too.  I started the page just playing with the gelatos, and went with a circle, making some rough strokes with the gelatos and then smudging it in a bit with a water brush.  I then dug through my little pack of tools and there is a foam circle on the end of pen that you can print with, so I mixed my gelatos with a little water on my craft mat and had a go at some printing too.  I love the easy way that the gelatos add colour to chipboard and that you can mix the colours and add a really nice layer, so on the heart button below I added some silver in the red, the final touch was some rock candy on top.  

I used October Afternoons Farmhouse, an old but favourite collection, and I die cut loads of letters using the large memory box Parker alphabet, I use blue papers for everything except the letters in beach.  I then used some yellow netting and gauze over the top, I added a little card from a crate paper ack and an OA sticker too as well as my chipboard buttons.  I outlined my title in whit gel pen and stamped the second word of the title over the top of my die cuts too.  There is a glassine envelope and tag with all the details behind the photo.

This is a shot from our recent holiday to France and all the kids on the beach hunting through the rock pools.  They found shrimps and hermit crabs, and one of the adults found some large sea slugs too!