Lucky Charm

Hi, Vanessa here with my post for this month.  I've used the Lucky Charm papers from American Crafts to make a few little projects.

Firstly, I've used the 4 x 8 page protectors to start an album for last years holiday.  This is a bit different from me, A4 is my usual scrapping size, but I need a bit of a change without going back to 12 x 12.  I've incorporated a bit of embossing and found a way to use some washi tape (go me!) which I just get a total mind-block with.

My second little project is CD envelopes.  But, with a difference.  I always have receipts lying around everywhere making a mess of the place and I need to keep them until I've done my "housekeeping" budget calculations.  I also put vouchers in different places with the intention of using them when I next go to the supermarket etc.  But, have a terrible habit of forgetting where they are and miss the deadline date.

I now have handy little envelopes that I can keep them in once place, nice and tidy!  Now I just need to train my brain in remembering that I've got them!

Finally, a scrapbook page with some paper rippling (have you still got your rippler from the Sarah's Cards retreat a few years ago?) and a couple of cards.

 

Thanks for looking.

Vanessa xx

Jubilee Mad!

Hi everyone, Vanessa here with my first project in a while and I've gone all patriotic as the Olympics and the Jubilee are coming up very soon!  I've seen a all sorts of versions of the Union Jack out and about in the shops etc, which inspired me to show how you can get all patriotic using any kind of paper or design.  For this project I have used papers from the Cosmo Cricket Evangeline range.

The main products I have used are :-

Cosmo Cricket Evangeline - Dandelion
Cosmo Cricket Evangeline - Rose
Cosmo Cricket Washi Tape
American Crafts Microbeads (Rouge)
American Crafts DIY Thickers (Poolside)
MME Follow Your Heart, Be Amazing Twine

First up is my layout "Bat It".  For the background I've used an old rose and script stamp on some American Crafts Kraft style card and Ranger tea stain ink and I've machine stitched around the edge of the card. 

 I covered the DIY thickers with the washi tape, inked the edges and used glossy accents on the top.

The bunting is hand cut and the Union Jack stripes are hand drawn with a brown journalling pen.  I then machine stitched the bunting to the page and drew over the Union Jack lines with glossy accents.

I used another piece of washi tape on the bottom right corner, pleated, and then machine stitched over the top.

Next up is a card made up in the style of the Union Jack.  I hand stitched the twine in the shape of the cross, using a WRMK Sew Easy.
 

I cut out butterflies and roses from the paper, layered the rose and used drops of glossy accents on the top.

My next layout is a simple and straight forward page, Girl Explorer, which again has some stitching, this time freehand using the twine, along the bottom.  For the title, I covererd the DIY letters with the micro beads, which gives a lovely spongy look and feel.  I used the washi tape for the main cross on the Union Jack patch.

The small butterlies are cut from a small woodware punch.

For my last project, I decided to jazz up a 39p notebook from Tesco.

Again, it was a simple case of cutting out the strips and layering them, however, for the main cross, this time I used two strips of double sided sticky tape and sprinkled the micro beads over the top.  I wasn't too sure it would work well on a notebook, but it worked really well.

  

 Thanks, hope you enjoy! :) x

Pimp Your Thickers!

Hello all. Happy October... can you believe how warm it is at the moment? Hope you all have something wonderful planned for the weekend... but if you don't hopefully I can provide you with a little inspiration to get your creative juices flowing.

This month I chose to work with the stunning Bella! Paper Boy range from Ruby Rock-It. As soon as I saw the fab designs, and the glitter papers, I knew they'd be perfect for scrapping pics of the terrible trio... lol!
Don't let the fact that these are 'boy' papers put you off buying them, with the exception of a couple of patterns, the range is really versatile and could easily be used with so many photo themes.

My first LO is of Thing 3 doing what he does best... being incredibly cute, cheeky and funny! We had a fun afternoon in the garden and I got this fab photo of him hiding from the camera. The Sphere paper is really quite busy as a whole sheet, but the octagonal design makes it really easy to cut into strips, which I did to edge the page. I layered strips of different patterned papers with a couple of the Fancy Pants, Off to School chalk stickers, and a strip of Pink Paislee mistables scalloped trim.

When it came to adding a title I had a bit of a 'wardrobe' moment! A cupboard full of clothes and absolutely nothing to wear.... or in this case, a box full of Thickers and nothing that was just right for the LO. So I decided to 'pimp' some pink pearl chipboard Thickers I was not likely to use any time soon.

Here's a little step by step as to how I changed the alphas to suit my LO.

Firstly I used a fine emery board to sand the pearly finish, leaving a nice matt base.

I then painted the alphas with white acrylic paint... they needed a couple of coats to make sure the pink was covered.

I used black ink to stamp onto the alphas once they were completely dry. I used an alphabet border stamp that I bought from Sarah's cards ages ago and had forgotten about.

I then added a thick layer of glossy accents putting the alphas to the side until they were dry. I left them over night to be absolutely sure I wouldn't be tempted to touch them to see if they were dry yet... you know you've done this too!!!

Once they were dry the alphas were ready to add to the LO. I also used a mix of yellow teeny alpha stickers and white stickers from Making Memories.

I just love how these turned out, and they were so easy to do. So I had another go for my next LO...

This time I had a 'happy accident' with my title. I used a grid pattern roller stamp and turquoise ink (an ink pad I stole borrowed from the boy's craft cupboard). I gave them a coat of white before stamping, but when I added the glossy accents, the ink bled. Once they were dry they looked like turquoise glass with a feint grid pattern... and actually looked pretty cool. As the grid pattern was now very subtle I used some black ink  to roll the same design lightly over the top. I think it works well.

I created a wrinkled/textured background for this LO, by firstly stamping with bubble wrap and acrylic paint onto white card. My original intention was to have that as my background, but when it was done it was just too 'in your face'. I covered the whole LO with a coat of diluted pva glue and added 2 sheets of white tissue paper, not worrying about the wrinkles. To added a bit more texture I also added a sprinkling of white embossing powder and heated until it melted. I used the same grid roller I used on the alphas on the background, gave the corner a spray of green mist and machine stitched around the edge before adding any patterned paper. 

To complete this LO I used some Jenni Bowlin Star stickers, and some Air Mail baker's twine, and dipped a pen lid in paint to stamp random circles onto the page.

My last LO has a very different feel to the previous 2, even though it uses paper from the same range. I did lots of very random machine stitching over the base of this LO to represent the box designs Etch A Sketch are well know for. By using a poloroid stamp onto red card, and punching some circles from white, I created mini  etch a sketch frames for my two photos. I used the Teresa Collins Stampmaker machine to make my own guinea pig stamp.... I know I've said it before, but if you are in two minds about getting this tool, I'd say do it... it really is a so easy to use and perfect to make the stamp you absolutely do need to complete a LO but might not be able to find to buy. If you are interested in one of these, and they are out of stock, just contact Sarah or Lianne and I'm sure they'll be able to order one for you.

I used the same pink pearl thickers, this time painting them red. I stamped over the red with black and used a grid stamp from this Glitz distressing set. Once the ink was dry I used a white gel pen to highlight some areas and fill some of the areas in.

With very little effort I have created 3 customised titles for my LOs. This technique would also be perfect to use when you don't have enough letters from one set to make your LO. You could easily mix different colours and different fonts, but create a unified title by 'pimping' them all in the same way.

Why don't you have a go at customising some Thickers... please share with us anything that you create that has been inspired by what you see on the blog, and we'll pop by and leave you a comment.

A Doodling Footballer

Hi all, when I was deciding what to choose for my blog work this month, the Amy Tangerine range got my attention.  I love the doodle style accent stickers and the doodle designs on some the papers.  I quite often have a bit of a doodle on my pages, especially outlining embellishments and photos etc. But I always use black.   Then, I saw the AC Candy Gel pens and thought - lets try the white (first!)

Firstly, I doodled around the edge of the cardstock, several times, before putting down my first matted layer and then I doodled around the edge of the layer, and each subsequent layer after that, as well as the hand cut elements from the papers.  To add a touch of extra dimension that the accent stickers already gave, I added Glossy Accents to the heart on the camera sticker and the "you are my favourite" sticker.  I also added a thin line of Glossy Accents over the stitched effect on the Thickers.

The row of fabric hearts on the left side of the top photo are cut from the fabric paper.

Thanks all and happy doodling :).

Vanessa