Moment with Kaisercraft

Here is the last page that I made with the Storybook collection, I started with the navy script paper and then added some gesso and lots of flicks.  I piled up the papers behind my photos and added some lace and some of the tags and phrases from the embellishments pack.  I echoed the same feeling in the bottom left hand corner - repeating the lace and ephemera and pearls.  Lots of distressing with my edge distresser and then inking with tea dye distress ink. The pearls are by hobby house and the lace is prima, the title is made from a Websters Pages little alphabet. I added a little swirl of golden florists wire - a technique I used on my ATDML retreat class, just stapling it into position.  

This page is going to be opening page for my photos from our camping trip in the Peak District - it is just a beautiful part of the country.

More Kaisercraft Storybook

Even thought the Storybook collection is about reading, a few of my theme park photos seem to have filtered into my pages!!  This is a shot from our day out at Chessington over Easter and their ride Cobra.

I went with a 3 tag style layout, and I made all the tags first, and then added stickers and punched pieces to the edge of the tags.  I layered up papers behind the tags, just small strips, and some copper tape and stickers.  I bound all my tags together with some gardeners string, and also used some behind my embellishments.  I added lots of little bits, repeating things that I have used elsewhere on the page.  I also used quite a bit from their ephemera packs and distressed the edges and inked it all as I went.

New Best Friend

Over at the Studio Challenges blog they have a list of goodies to include on your page and hopefully I have most of them...

Sewing
Lace
Pink
Paint or ink splatters
Enamel Dots
Kraft colour
A star
Stenciling
Doily

 The kraft is not quite kraft and I made my enamel dots with BoBunny Pearlescents.  I started the page with BoBunnys Fanciful stencil and some gesso, then I spritzed with brown and green cosmic shimmer mists, I then added some lines using the edge of a credit card and white gesso, then some dark brown distress stain...and some flicks of antique copper cosmic shimmer mist too! So lots of paint to start with.

Whilst that was all drying I cut out some of the birds and rulers and words from BoBunny's beautiful dreamer collection - the paper Imagine has all sorts you can cut out on it.  I also made some photo mounts and stitched the edges, there are also some papers from the Soiree collection in there too.  I added a do crafts doily and some Websters pink lace (2 of the items in one go!).  Since I am loving copper at the moment I  punched some copper stars and my final step was the little pearlescent enamel style dots - you can put a little blob on the page and then if you flick it gently from underneath it levels it out and makes it into a dome shape.

Whilst we were away my niece grew quite attached to my husband, and on this walk she was his constant companion, exploring caves with him and all sorts - so he has a new best friend!

Ann's crop - Messing

Hello everyone, I have been a little neglectful of my blog and been busy making projects in the background for all sorts of exciting things...I'll keep you in suspense, but there have been videos and instruction writing!

Last weekend I had the pleasure of going to Ann Freeman's crop - Scrapmates and this is one of the pages that I made courtesy of her instructions and inspirations.  It involved a little bit of tearing - I do enjoy it! We also used a large polka dot stamp for the background.  I also loved the way Ann had used some gold wire and hung her title on it, so I did the same, and then added a copper tape/embossed/painted heart I made with Mel Hand at the ATDML retreat too.  Little bits of washi tape, and a stamping up tag punch and it was all together.

The photo is from our recent holiday in the Peak District and my kids and their cousin messing around in a beautiful wild field that was at the top of our campsite.

Because Every Picture Tells a Story

Here is another page that I made using Kaisercraft's Story Book collection from A Trip Down Memory Lane.  I created a blue wash using my Marion Smith color lab and had watched this video on using brusho and how you could sprinkle some of the pigment across water to get a different effect, so I tried this with my colour lab pigments too - hence the dots of strong colours. 

I put lots of layers behind my photo, and added some hessian and also an embossed acetate sheet (I used the Darice chicken wire die) just to add a bit more texture.  I distressed the edges of all the papers (Paperback, Novel and Read).  I added some hoppy lobby pearls and a little peg from Crate Paper, then made the title out of the stickers that co-ordinate with this range and the "You make me Smile" is from the Collectables.

Here is my youngest in the sea in Cornwall in April...it was a sunny day but it was not that warm and I would say the sea was quite chilly - hence his funny/slightly cold looking smile.

Scorpion Valley with Kaisercraft

Hi, here is a page I made with Kaisercraft's Story Book collection that was in my kit from A Trip Down Memory Lane.  The papers have a really nice old fashioned feel and it went very well with some shots from Chessington of a Western Style rollercoaster ride we went on.  I started with a little bit of stamping on the kraft cardstock, using the grid stamp from Kaisercraft and also some tea dye distress ink.  I then tore up some layers the top is called Paperback the next layer is the reverse and the bottom is Typewriter. I then distressed and inked some mounts behind my photo using Typewriter and Read.  I added lots of embellishments from the kit - again inking as I went and distressing - I also used a little Websters Pages metal embellishment too and stuck a coper star in the view hole.  For the title I used a technique taught by Mel at the ATDML retreat using copper tape, embossing folders and paint - the alphabet is a Tim Holtz die called Vintage Market and I used a cogs embossing folder from Darice.

There is a Virtual Crop this weekend on the ATDML blog and Facebook page, the classes are free and you can put together your own kits or buy them in the shop.

Going for Gold with Websters Painted Passport

Hello everyone here is my final page from my Painted Passport (Websters Pages) DT Kit from A Trip Down Memory Lane.  I was quite messy for this one - messy paint, messy stitching!

I started off the page with some slightly watered down white gesso and just added lots of flicks.  I then cut some strips of paper from the Travellers paper - with the gold feathers, and a little bit I had left over from the World Map paper - which has black and white scallops on the back, then I used some Teresa Collins Glam Factor paper - this one is seeing stars and has some gold foiled stars on it I also used a few bits from her Something Wonderful collection too.  I also added in a strip of gold foiled wash tape and then I did some stitching.  I layered up and distressed the edges of my photo mounts and tucked in a little bit more washi tape, then created a cluster with a punched heart and some of the Painted Passport mini stickers.  I used a mixture of alphabets - Websters Pages and Pink Paislee for the title.

Yesterday I had a lovely morning at Ann Freeman's crop and managed 3 pages so I will be back with more!

Nothing Better than Beach Time

A very clean and simple page from me with the left overs from my DT kit with A Trip Down Memory Lane - it uses Kaisercrafts' #Me collection, and I was towards the end of my stash so I went with lots of layering and white space.  

I started the page using my grid stamp - and arched it to create little areas of grid, I then went about layering behind my photo.  I had some vellum left over from a previous page, and had embossed it with a Darice chickenwire folder, then I punched a few strips - and distressed the edges of the papers, and just got layering behind the photo - once you have them where you want them it is easiest to just staple them into position behind the photo so the staples don't show.  I then stuck it all down and added some of the stickers from this collection to, and a chipboard heart from MME.  The alphabet is by October Afternoon - it's a great set as you get the little letters and larger letters together, the last step was to add some flicks of black ink and add my journalling.

We have been to Cornwall loads of times, and it is just gorgeous, with amazing beaches.....however it does seem to catch a lot of wet weather too - this was one of our first times out on a beach in the sun, and my kids loved it - as this was April the sea was chilly but it didn't stop my youngest from having a little paddle!!!

Simple Stories Life in Colour

I haven't showed you the 2nd class that I taught at the A Trip Down Memory Lane retreat - this was using Life in Color by Simple Stories.  It was a class all about using the papers to influence the design.  So the first page uses the 3 by 4 cards which are already split on the diagonal and then I add stickers and wood veneers and banners and little embellishments.  Around the edge of the paper I added some of the colours with distress stain which you can see a little bit of.

For this page we used the diagonals to cut the paper and then some stamped splodges - it's a great set by Kaisercraft and takes out the unpredictability of mess!

For this page I gutted the polaroids and added photos behind and then decorated them - so it was a nice and quite quick and easy class - not too messy from me!

So Sweet

I know I don't do pink that often....there is a girl in the photo and it is a sweet shop so I thought I could get away with pink.  The page started with some large stencilled circles, then pink mist, and then I added some stencilled circles with texture paste and left it to dry.  I then set to work layering up the papers which are from Websters Pages Painted Passport (from my ATDML kit) and stitched and the edges and layered them up.  I used a Crate Paper wood veneer and pink October Afternoon heart as well as some stickers from the Websters Pages collection.  I cut out the Stay Curious banner from one of the journal sheets and then added some gold foiled washi tape that Jill sent me - it is lovely!  I added a few splatters of some peacock green cosmic shimmer mist and had a go at painting my own title using watercolours - I have practised this a little more now, so will have another go at it!

My husband was the expert at filling these sweet containers up, he obviously had lots of practise during his childhood, so the kids were very pleased with their haul!