Here's how - Xmas wish list

Here is a sweet little gift to give to those you love before Xmas - or fill it out yourself and leave it in a special place to be found by those you love!

Here's how.

You will need:

• Patterned paper cut in a rectangle. By using double sided paper you get a sweet coloured interior.


• Matching scraps of patterned paper


• Bazzill cardstock in coordinating colour. Use up a scrap here.


• 2 Mulberry flowers, one larger than the other


• 1 button


• Dimensional Magic

Kit:

• Pritt Power Gel


• Zig Writer


• Xyron

Here's how.

1. Fold the rectangle so that you have one side longer than the other. My rectangle was 16cm x 6 cm so my folded rectangle is 9 x 6 cm long.
2. Decorate the front cover with patterned paper scraps. I tore and layered my double sided papers, building it up until I had the look I wanted.
3. Decorate the longer side with another strip of paper. This looks pretty when seen from the front.
4. Fold both mulberry flowers in half. Slip them over the longer side. The larger flower goes at the back, with the smaller flower in front.
5. Staple these in place.
6. Use Pritt Power Gel to glue the button in place to hide the staple.
7. Write out your title on scrap Bazzill and then cut the words apart. Align them to the right of the cover.
8. Make a list using strips of paper for the inside and glue these down. You can see them here. I've used a check box and left the rest of the strip bare.

9. Add a circle of Dimensional Magic dots around your title. I laid my card out flat, anchored it using objects around my table and then made my dots. The inside of your double sided tape makes a good template.
10. Tuck the front cover behind the flower element.
11. Voila! You are done.

Technique - whitewashing orphaned papers

On the latest DVD from Scrapbook Creations, featuring Lorraine Bate, there is a wonderful technique for orphaned papers.

You know the ones! I am sure I liked them when I bought them (although the postage stamps paper kinda surprises even me! What was I thinking!!!) but now they just don't cut it any more.

Well this technique will rescue them.


On both these pages for a Kind Gesture swap, I've used nine squares of paper from my stash of scraps. Each piece was chosen because it was pink or blue. There were no other criteria.




Here's how.

You will need:
Scraps of patterned paper in one colourway eg all pink-ish
A square punch
White paint (I used Heidi Swapp)

Tools:
Paint brush
Pallette
Water container
Newspaper to spread beneath the squares whilst you paint them.

Here's how:

1. Punch nine squares out of the papers.
2. Lie the paper down on the newspaper.
3. Mix up a very runny wash of white paint and water. Don't go too far though - you still want a definite white look to the paint.
4. Paint each piece of paper.
5. Let dry and then apply further coats till it looks just right. I used two coats on some dark pink and brown papers but only one coat on a light spotted blue.
6. The edges will curl slightly. If you don't like this look, iron them slightly face down on the board. I personally like the curled, hand made look.

For the page above I:

• Painted a light wash of paint over Bazzill cardstock.
• Adhered the paper beginning with the middle square and working out to the sides.
• To work out which paper goes where I looked at the colour or the pattern. So bright pink went next to bright pink OR floral next to floral OR stripe next to stripe. This gives a more cohesive look to the page.
• Added three large mulberry flowers and several small Prima flowers.
• Glued buttons on the big flowers using Pritt Power Gel and made French knots on the small flowers.
• Stitched flourishes until I liked the look of the page.
• Stamped out the title of bits of cardstock and adhered them. One of the flourishes looked a bit dodgy to me so I simply adhered the title over the top.
• Put a few stitches in if needed to further embellish the page.
• Handwrote a message on the back.

You can find a sketch here.

Here's how - Using Urban Lily's new range

Now by reading my blog and seeing my gallery over at EMM, you've probably worked out that I have a love affair with the Urban Lily range of papers.

Here's my latest layout.

Materials

Sketch

Urban Lily Sass paper

Mulberry flowers

Paint - I used Heidi Swapp and Plaid paint

Dimensional Magic

Buttons

Zig Writer

Pritt Power Gel

Tools:

Craft knife

Paint Pallette

Making Memories: alphabet and decorative stamps

Here's how:

1. Print the sketch. We are going to flip it.
2. Turn the paper upside down. This means that the heart is upside down.
3. Cover the heart with a flower. Then turn another flower over, and glue it down. This gives an almost lotus appearance to the flower.
4. Glue a button in the centre of the flower and then glue two buttons on the journaling block.
5. Use your craft knife to cut a space for your photo. Adhere your photo in this slot.
6. Load pink paint on your brush and then wipe it so that only a little is left. Swipe this on the paper as a background to the title and also around your photo and block.
7. Stamp your title using the black paint. For longer words begin at the last letter. For any line where you have two or more words begin at the first letter of the first word, then the last letter of the last word, and work your way into the middle.
8. Brush a corner of the decorative stamp with black paint and place it on the corner of the photo.
9. Allow this to dry.
10. Add your journaling.
11. Add Dimensional Magic to the words WHERE, YOU, LOVE.
12. Allow this to dry.
13. Add DM dots around the flower accent and along the rainbow shape.
14. Allow to dry.

And there you go...done!

Handmade frames for Georgia's room

On the weekend Penn and I redecorated Georgia's room in beautiful pinks including a soft marshmallow pink and a stronger fuschia. We also offset these colours with a light minty pink in her doona cover.



To coordinate I made frames using four pieces of patterned paper which echo the colours of her room.

You can see the Cricut machine got a work out here. By using one piece of double sided paper by Fancy Pants I was able to cut out huge 4 inch flowers and then layer them on top of each other. Two flowers were cut in silhouette with the third cut normally. I had to use a round centre of this flower which is layered with French knots for interest. Can you see that the petals are very slightly curled?

This next frame features three smaller artworks. Only one of them features the ruched ribbon. The other two feature zig zag and cross stitcing. Again the flowers are slightly curled. And can you see the little leaves? These are the centres of the silhouette cut flower above. No waste here!

The next frame features her initial layered onto stitched paper. The ruched ribbon echoes the ruching on her bedspread. I've used zig zag in a soft pink thread to link the various papers together. This pink stitching is the same colour as the lightest of all the pinks.

The last frame simply features various sized flowers cut with the cricut. Each flower has a centre brad, usually the opposite of the colour of the paper just for interest. There's that ruched ribbon again.
The repetition of ribbon and stitching makes the frames work together as a whole! I love them.

And George? Well she said, "ooh Mum they are bootiful!"

Paper tearing - a new look at an old technique

I recently began paper tearing on my layouts again. It is such an easy technique and yet it is one that gives such a good look.

Let's look at some examples.

This is one of the easiest ways to use this technique. Simply rip the paper from one edge to the other and then adhere it to your page. The white edge of the PP here reflects the white wave tops, a nice subtle repetition.

In this layout I have used the scallop edge of the patterned paper as my guideline for tearing. I simply ripped the paper towards myself, carefully following the shape of the scallop. And the white core of the paper highlights the shape even more.

On this layout I have torn the edge of the flowers. That wonderful white core makes these very effective.

And who says that you can't tear shapes from your patterned paper? Here the trees and hills are all torn from the patterned paper. Such a versatile way to give the layout some definition. And because each tear is different depending on who is doing it, then each LO also becomes individual too.