Sketches in Thyme - May 2016

Time for another scrapbook challenge!

Full details can be found HERE

This months sketch is above.

I used this Stempell & Kartoon brick wall chipboard to give a little dimension. 

and painted it using Dylusions paint.

I used an embossing folder to give texture.

The finished result has a Christmas theme.

Scrap Thursday Part 31

It is Thursday again (I don't know where the time goes) and I am going to share a layout I made at the weekend for the We Dare You To Create challenge being held by Andy Skinner and Tracy Weinzapfel. The aim of the challenge is to create a piece of art work that incorporates both Andy's and Tracy's style which as they are so different makes for an interesting make!

The 12" x 12" layout below features photographs taken in Brisbane of Street Art.

I started by embossing standard white card with different styles of embossing folders. I then positioned and mounted my photographs on white Bazzill and cut around them leaving a tiny white border. 
The next step is to randomly cut pieces of the embossed card and place around the photographs. The placing of the card needs thought but in order to get the 'Andy' style the choice of embossed card must be used randomly.

The next stage involves lots of paint, I used a mix of Americana and DecoArt Fluid Acrylics. The first coat completely covers all the embossed card in one colour. Then in no particular order I dry brushed the other colours over the top, with some colours being used heavier than others. Once this was dry I stuck all the pieces in place around the photographs, I added tiny brads to give the effect of metal panels welded together.

I stamped a 'Totally Tracy' flower in Liquid Acrylics and filled in the image using paints from the embossing stage, I added a thin coat of crackle glaze and left it all to dry. This was later cut out along with the butterflies and positioned on the layout.

The last part was the journalling, which I prefer to handwrite even though I am not fond of my writing. It think it just gives a more personal feel to layouts.

So that's it, my joint styled scrap layout! I look forward to seeing what other people will create using the same specification.

Card and Sketch

This months challenge can be found HERE

When I started to make this card it wasn't my intention to use only black, white and grey it just evolved this way. I am really pleased with the result especially as cards are not really my forte. The stamps are all PaperArtsy.

17th September Scrap Thursday Part 16

This is the sixteenth scrapbook page for my new weekly post Scrap Thursday. I will try and bring new ideas and techniques and revisit old favourites too. If you have any suggestions or requests just let me know and I will do my best to accommodate these.  

I usually work in a 12" x 12" format as this allows me more space to experiment and get arty!

This week I am showing you a mini book I made for my good friend Lea.

 The pages were 8" x 8" in size (plus the tabs)

 As you can see I used stunning Graphic 45 card stock from the Couture Collection.

 In the UK the Ambassador for Graphic 45 is Clare Charville. You can find her blog details HERE

 I used flaps and pockets to make things a bit more interesting.

 Added tags.

 And some lace.

 Each collection has lots of bits and pieces to add to your projects.

Hope this has inspired you to have a go yourself!

Paula Pascual & Sizzix

I am lucky enough to have Paula Pascual following my blog so I thought it would be a good idea to have a direct link to her blog so that if you have any questions about Sizzix or if you want some new ideas you can hop over to her at the click of a button.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with Paula this is what she has to say about herself.

I am a freelance paper craft designer of products and projects. I specialised in Sizzix Die cutting a company for which I have done three collections and the new big Shot Starter Kit.
You can see all the products I have designed on my website HERE

I have met Paula a couple of times and not only is she a lovely person but also gorgeous as you can see from her photograph above!

July Challenge - The Craft Garden

You can find details of this months challenge at the Here

This is a 12" x 12" scrapbook layout of the beautiful Mel.

I used freebie paper from Scrapbook Magazine (the fans), I cut the fans out from the background paper so I could use my own painted background.

I used Fresco paint from PaperArtsy and a brayer to apply it randomly over a sheet of Bazzill card stock.

I also used embossed card and smooth white Bazzill to get the finished look.

I cut out pendants using Sizzix dies for the title.

These flowers are by Jofy at PaperArtsy, coloured using Copics and the word embellishment is by KaiserCraft.

I added a metal bird cage by Prima and finished it off using sparkly brads. 

The overall affect is very soft and pretty, just like Mel!

Ceramic Photo Frame

Glazed Creations

I made this photo frame taking my inspiration from the stamp below designed by Darcy of PaperArtsy. 

The card below has a background of embossed card which I painted and then added a light rubbing of gilding wax on the high points. The flowers are coloured using Big Brush pens.

Proud Dad - Winning Layout

Materials:

Kaiser Craft 12 x 12 paper ‘History P801’ from ‘These Days’ collection , Kaiser Craft 12 x 12 paper ‘Newsprint P645@ from ‘Timeless’ collection, 12 x 12 craft card, Woodware olive green, plain chocolate and lincoln ink pads, toffee crunch Momento ink pad, Darcy PaperArtsy stamp set Eclectica 3 EDY02, Kaiser Craft collections sentiment, Stix2 sticky pads, aged green and aged teal Stampendous Frantage, Versamark embossing pad, natural and taupe Craft Decor burlap, Marianne Creatables Leaves LR0192, Green Tara flowers and leaves, Kaiser Craft basic pearls, Cosmic Shimmer pearl PVA, Stix2 double sided tape, smooth white Bazzill, olive card, Crafty Notions glue.

Tools:

Acrylic block, craft knife, Sizzix big shot, scissors, paper trimmer, Ranger Ink Essentials Blending Tool, heat gun, heat mat, A4 paper, sticky notes.

Instructions:

1. On the Craft card use the toffee crunch Momento ink pad and one of the heart stamps to create a subtle background design, use post it notes to mask images already stamped to prevent over stamping of images.

2. Trim photograph to size using paper trimmer and mount onto smooth Bazzill. Then mount onto olive card, trim three sides using a trimmer and tear the bottom edge leaving enough room to journal on.

3. Take the ‘History’ paper and tear to suit the mounted photograph, using a blending tool ink the egdes with an olive green ink pad. Position onto the craft card and secure in place.

4. Stamp the butterfly image onto the ‘Newsprint’ paper using Versamark and cover with aged teal Stampendous Frantage melt using a heat gun (use heat mat and paper to protect the work surface and collect spare embossing powder), cut out and add cosmic shimmer pearl PVA to decorate butterfly wings, leave to dry.

5. Cut out of white Bazzill (using the Big Shot and Marianne die) three leaves, cover with Versamark and Stampendous Frantage, melt the embossing powder and put to one side.

6. Take 2 pieces of burlap, measure and trim to 12”, leave the natural piece full width and trim and fray the taupe piece. Stick the taupe onto the natural allowing the natural to be seen both sides.

7. Position the photograph, leaves, butterfly and burlap and attach to background. Add sticky pads to the back of the Kaiser Craft sentiment and stick in place covering the stems of the leaves. Add the three pearl gems to the edge of the mounted photograph.

8. Finally add the Green Tara flowers and leaves to finish off.

The requirements of the competition included colour, composition, techniques and overall look. I decided to use wedding photos for all three layouts to show that although the colour theme of the wedding photos were the same it was possible to use a variety of colour/styles of products and overall look for each layout.
The other other consistency was the use of stamps by Darcy of Art and Sole
I found this helped bring the layouts together despite using different stamps for each layout.

Scrapbooker of the year 2013 - Results

Scrapbook Magazine runs a competition every year to find the 'Scrapbooker of the Year' and I can announce I am a Runner-Up in this years competition.

Below is one of the three layouts I submitted

Love

This is the front cover of a scrapbook. I wanted it to look like the padded fabric notice boards you see in retro style kitchens.

Materials:

Tando List Board (CHLKBDLIST), 1 piece of 12 x 12 acetate, DecoArt SoSoft fabric paint D5579, DecoArt Americana Bleached Sand DA257, stencil 6” x 6” TCW 3715, thin white ribbon, American Crafts Journal Stickers book ‘Remarks’, Darcy PaperArtsy Eclectica 3 EDY01 stamps set, Prima Typo Bulbs #891527- Love, sea shells, natural hemp, smooth white Bazzill, turquoise Bazzill, glitter spot Bazzill, Sea Breeze Versa Magic, Stix2 Ultra Sticky double sided tape, Crafty Notions glue, journaling pen, some waste packing material,  thin chipboard or cardboard and old t shirt.

Tools:

Cropodile or similar, scissors, cut and dry, acrylic block, paint brush, cutting mat.

Instructions:

1. Paint the outer frame of the list board with two coats of Bleached Sand paint and leave to dry.

2. Take an old t shirt or piece of fabric and cut slightly larger than the list board. Using the stencil and fabric paint cover the fabric and put to one side to dry.

3. Once the list board frame is dry cut the acetate to size and stick onto the inside of the frame creating a window effect. Measure and punch out the binding holes, these will be used as the guide for each subsequent layer.

4. Using the sea breeze ink pad, randomly stamp the edge of the frame using the heart leaf vine.

5. Again using the sea breeze ink pad stamp the sentiment onto smooth white Bazzill and cut to fit the oval part of the list board. Make a border in turquoise Bazzill and stick in place.

6. Take some sea shells, hemp and a Prima bulb embellishment and glue in place to finish off the frame, put to one side.

7. Take some packing material (or thin foam) and stick onto the list board this needs to be slightly smaller than the board.

8. Once the stenclled fabric is dry place it on top of the packing material and secure at the back of the board using Ultra Sticky double sided tape.

9. Cut lengths of ribbon and crisscross it over the fabric and secure at the back leaving just enough slack so that a photograph can slip underneath the ribbon.

10. Cut the thin chipboard to fit the rear of the list board hiding all the fabric and ribbon ends and stick in place using Ultra Sticky tape.

11. Make binding holes using the frame holes for positioning.

12. Trim the photograph and mount onto the glitter Bazzill, now position under the crisscrossed ribbon to make it look like a postcard on a notice board.

13. Using one of the journal stickers, mount onto turquoise and white Bazzill and cut out to the desired shape, add some faux stitching using a black journaling pen again position under the ribbon and use double sided tape if necessary to secure the position.

14. Finally stick the frame onto the fabric board and use hemp to bind the cover and subsequent pages.

Andy Skinner Classes

I am so excited I have managed to book onto 4 classes run by Andy Skinner. The images below are the projects we will be making. If you fancy having a go yourself there are a few places left, you can book HERE (let me know if you get booked)

A full report will wing its way to you in June!