Paper Obsession

Well, well.. I won something!

I am finally free! This morning I handed in the last of my City & Guilds Photography coursework - on time as well. What a relief.. although, on the whole I've really enjoyed doing this course - the learning, the friends I've made, the sense of accomplishment - this last term has been the least enjoyable of the three. Anyway, I managed to motivate myself to just get it done - and now I'm free to do what I like!

In between all this workbook-writing and portfolio-compiling, I managed to complete a scrapbook page for the Hero Arts blog's weekly challenge. This week the theme was Monochromatic colour schemes. I used a lovely photo of Harry, taken on the day he turnred 23 months, and a green colour scheme. Why green? I just found a few scraps of BasicGrey that I liked, along with some gorgeous Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock and some sequin mesh bought from a toy shop, and pieced it all together.

I only just managed to upload the LO to the Flickr group in time, but I'm SO glad I bothered.. I actually WON the scrapbooking prize! Or rather Harry did... I think it was his super-cute little face that swung it. Whatever it was, I haven't stopped grinning, I'm so thrilled to have won.

I think the prize is a gift certificate for the Hero Arts shop.. so I'll be able to add to my HA stamp collection and maybe give this overworked heart-winged butterfly a little rest.

Summer fun... a new mini-book project

I had this idea to make a quick and easy mini-book as a memento of happy times this summer. So far I've only done the cover and the first three pages but I'm pleased with how it's looking so far.

The format is A5 landscape and I'm making the base pages out of recycled cereal boxes covered with patterned paper. I'm sticking to a really simple layout for each double page spread with journaling hidden on tags behind the matted photos. I have raised the photos up on foam tape to make a little pocket for the tags.

Here's the cover:

The butterfly is the Heart-winged butterfly stamp by Hero Arts.

Here is the first page, featuring our recent holiday in Weymouth:

The papers are by American Crafts and Heidi Grace. I'm matting all the photos on Core'dinations cardstock and sanding the edges.

Here is page 2 (will go on the left):

and here's page 3:

Finally, here is the journaling tag:

I've used one of the Decorative Birds stamps from the Hero Arts set of four, plus 'The Facts' from the Banana Frog Journaling set. The papers are BasicGrey - Urban Prairie.

That's all I've done as yet. Hoping to do a few more very soon!

Hello blog, I'm back... with some photos

I've been letting it slip these last few weeks for various reasons..

• Just 'discovered' the Hero Arts blog and their Flickr group - wow, it is SO inpirational!!!
• Been uploading lots of my latest crafty stuff to Flickr - somehow easier than blogging it all.
• Started up my own Flickr group for my Landscape Photography classmates to share our portfolio pictures.
• I have just been 'adopted' as a newbie on UKScrappers by the lovely Dawn (bagofscraps) which is very exciting - can't wait to get fully involved in the UKS!
• Been trying to get motivated to get Landscape Photography workbook and portfolio sorted - the deadline is a week today..

Anyway - I'm back with a few pictures from the aforementioned Landscape portfolio. Still struggling to get the workbook done (in fact I really ought to be doing it RIGHT NOW!) but hey, I need a little break..

Here are my favourites from the Sea, Shore & Beaches theme:

Portland Bill lighthouse - just how a lighthouse should be!

Newtown creek, Isle of Wight - fascinating place.

These ones are for the Cultivated & Farmed Land theme:

Cherry tree in Glenthorne Avenue allotments

 
Allium plants at the allotments.

These are probably my favourites out of the twelve pictures .

I will be back soon with some crafty offerings.. just as soon as I get this darned workbook completed, if not before.

So many new obsessions, so little time.

Pressing flowers the Cuttlebug way

I recently read about an intriguing technique called 'flower pounding' on the Cuttlebug Challenges blog and knew I just had to try it. Jay from Indigo Inklings described the process in a fantastic tutorial, linked here, which inspired me to have a go this afternoon. It's really simple but great fun. All you do is pick some flowers, place them in a folded piece of watercolour paper or card, then roll it through the Cuttlebug in the following sandwich (bottom to top): A plate, B plate, folder containing flowers, C plate.

The result: the pigment of the flowers is transferred to the paper in a pattern that looks pretty much like a watercolour painting of the flowers themselves! At least that's the idea..

My first attempt, using some flowers from a Hebe bush that my boys kindly picked for me this morning, was actually quite revolting - mainly a horrible brown mess.

Here are the Hebe flowers before the Cuttlebug treatment:

And here they are after squashing (ugh!):

Undeterred, I used Lobelia flowers for my second go and these were much better. They are pretty little flowers in shades of blue, lilac and pink with delicate stems. The pigments transferred to the paper nicely and the squashed flowers came away cleanly.

Here they are in the watercolour paper folder:

Here they are after coming through the Cuttlebug:

And here is the paper folder showing how the image transferred to both sides:

Here is another one made with lobelia flowers:

I think the key to success is using fairly thin delicate flowers in vibrant colours. Experimentation is the way to find out which ones work the best! I'll show what I made with the images in a later post..

Two New Baby Cards

Here are a couple of cards I made today, really quick and simple.

Supplies:
White square card blank
Patterned papers, free with a card-making magazine
Pink/blue card
White card
Giraffe stamp by Imaginisce
Black Versafine ink
Chalks
Nestabilities - Scalloped Circles
Circle punch
Cuttlebug
Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder
Sakura souffle pens - pink and blue
Metal 'New Baby' plaques by Card Candy
Adhesives - glue stick, sticky-dots, foam tape

How to make:
1. Stamp giraffe with black ink on to white card.
2. Colour with chalks.
3. Cut out image using a large circle punch (2 inch).
4. Cut a larger scalloped circle from pink/blue card using Nestabilities set and Cuttlebug.
5. Emboss scalloped circle with Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder.
6. Cut patterned paper to a 10.5cm square and stick centrally to base card.
7. Stick the circle to the scalloped circle using sticky-dots, then stick the scalloped circle to the patterned paper using foam tape. I stuck mine slightly higher than the middle.
8. Stick the metal New Baby plaque under the scalloped circle using foam pads or tape.
9. Draw on 'stitches' with Sakura souffle pen around edge of patterned paper so it looks as if it is sewn on to the card.

I needed the blue card in a hurry and it was very quick to make. I took a little more time over the pink one and chalked around the edges of the circle and the patterned paper to give it more of a distressed look.

A 'green' card for Father's Day

I spotted some lovely little napkins on a recent trip to IKEA which I thought had definite card-making/scrapping potential. The patterns are great and each packet was about 50p!

I decided to try out the napkins by making a Father's Day card. Here's what I did:

I separated the layers and glued the patterned (elephant) layer to some thick kraft paper using Mod Podge. I also glued one of the white patterned napkins to a square white base card. I left them to dry and squashed them under some heavy books to flatten them for a few days.

I then embossed a rectangle scrap of kraft paper with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder and stuck it on to the base card.

Next I cut a square out of the elephant piece, to include my favourite of the elephants, and stuck this on foam dots onto the card, partially over the dotted piece of kraft.

To make the DAD letters, I stamped on to a Dulux paint chart using Banana Frog Pharmacy stamps and cut them into small tiles. I stuck these on to the card with more pop dots for a bit more dimension.

And that's it. Dad liked the card, by the way.

A new layout - and not a butterfly in sight

I've made a few ditched attempts to scrap this photo - and at last, this afternoon I managed it.
It's a photo of me, taken by Jo from my Landscape Photography class during a field trip to Cuckmere Haven and Beachy Head earlier this month.

I love the look of concentration etched in my face (I didn't even know I could wrinkle my forehead like that) as I was attempting to take a picture of a flower among the grasses.

The layout was pieced together with scraps of BasicGrey 'Perhaps' papers on top of white Bazzill Dotted Swiss cardstock. I made the flower by combining a Banana Frog 'Retro Snowflake' stamp with the stem from the 'Build-a-Bloom' set, stamping with Black Staz-on ink onto acetate then cutting round the shape. So pleased to have found a 'non-festive' use for the Retro Snowflake stamps!

[By the way, the picture I took of the flower was not worth a layout.. .]

My little sweetheart

Well, the butterfly obsession continues as I predicted in my last post. This layout was inspired by last week's challenge (Be Inspired # 32) on the Cuttlebug Challenges Blog, which was to create a project with the theme of Butterflies and Hearts, ideally made with the Cut & Emboss combo sets. I just HAD to play along with this one!

The photo is of Charlie at 9 months during a holiday to Bruges. He had crashed out on the bed in our hotel and just looked like an angel. [A far cry from the little monster he has turned into at 3 years old, but that's another story...]

Supplies used:
Cardstock:   Bazzill Basics
Patterned paper:   Heidi Grace
Buttons:   S.E.I. Chick-A-Doo
Letters:   Doodlebug Simply Sweet
Punch:   Fiskars Threading Water

The butterfly obsession continues...

I am still in love with butterflies on my cards.. they seem to be putting in an appearance on virtually every card I make at the moment. Here are a few more:

This one (above) I made for Charlie's friend Phoebe's birthday which was last week. I used some really pretty papers I got free with Scrapbook Magazine, along with the Cuttlebug Butterfly cut & emboss set. Love it so much!

This one was inspired by a tutorial on Two Peas in a Bucket about stamping with bleach. It sort-of worked! I also used Bazzill Swiss Dots cardstock (blue), Kraft cardstock and green Core'dinations card, which I sanded to show the lighter core underneath.

For this card I cut scalloped circles using my new Nestabilities dies and stamped the butterfly on to BasicGrey Scarlet's Letter paper. I also embossed the smaller circle using the Cuttlebug Script embossing folder and inked it with brown ink.

Finally, this really simple card was made using butterflies cut from Basic Grey papers, layered on to black card on a white card blank. I'm not keen on peel-offs but hey, I need to use them up! I coloured the Happy Birthday peel-off in yellow.

I think this butterfly obsession will continue for a while yet, be warned..

Butterfly obsession

I'm hooked on butterflies at the moment! Here are a couple of cards I made - inspired by a beautiful card I saw on 2 Peas. Must add the credit but will need to find it again to do that.

Loving the Cuttlebug!!! Used the Swiss Dot embossing folder and the butterfly cut & emboss set for these two cards, along with BasicGrey Offbeat/Urban Prairie papers, Banana Frog Simple Greetings stamps and the Fiskars Threading Water punch.

Another thing I am LOVING at the moment.. Core'dinations cardstock. I got a pack of 80 sheets of 4.5"x6.5" card in 'Mother Nature's colours', 20 sheets of each colour, from the Big Stamp & Scrapbooking Show last weekend. It is gorgeous to use, and because each sheet is so small I'm not afraid to just USE it. I hate cutting into a big sheet of pp or cardstock if I only need a small bit.. seems such a waste! These little cards are a great size for sticking in the Cuttlebug as well as for matting photos etc.

More cards coming up, when I have photos ready.. also more pics of Charlie and Harry's mini-books to follow soonish.