A Little bit Different

I recently had a spending spree on craft books and so decided to use some of the new ideas on these layouts.  For this layout I decided to cut the photos of my niece out as the background was black due to me using the flash.  This really detracted from the prettiness of the doll.  I hand drew all my letters, cutting the thicker section out of card so that I could overlap the border and photo to a small degree.

My background paper was plain pink and I dry brushed it with pink acrylic paint of a slightly different shade.

 This page remembers a trip to Camden Market in London.  The backing paper was some gift wrapping given to me by my brother.  I stitched it onto a piece of card - using a colour that I wanted to use up.  Having got the black and red theme I then used up a couple of transparencies I printed up ages ago when I was using up printer ink before throwing an old printer away.  The red/black netting on the right of the photo was an old fruit net which I shrunk with my heat gun and then painted with black acrylic.  I cut my title from silver card which I had coloured with alchol inks, black versa-mark ink and foil.

 I slotted an extra photo behind the main one and used the back of it for my journalling.

I have recently started playing around with doodling and decided to take it on to a layout.  This one is way out of my usual style not an embellishment in sight.  I masked the letters off with masking tape and used my distress stains to colour the background.  Unfortunately the masking fluid tore the paper when I removed it.  Next time I think I will colour in the white first to protect the paper.  I then set to with my coloured pencils and black pen.  The layout records a real bargain but also the story behind buying new trainers.  I wanted to include the price as in years to come this could be interesting.

 

Catch Up

As with so many other little ones my niece loved playing with and eating magazines and books when she was little.

I had great fun using my new alphabet die cutting out backing papers.  I stamped little pictures into the hand made books, but they aren't designed to be opened.

 The photo at the bottom opens up to show another photo and the journalling.

I took these photos when we first got our cat.  The papers under the photos are designs I made when I was designing for Craftsuprint.  I printed them up with my last batch of photos so that they are photographic quality.  I was in a frivolous mood and so used up all those plain brown and grey buttons I have been hoarding for years.

I had great fun making the letters.  I mixed soft tissue paper with water and pressed it into the backing from a sheet of foam letters.  When it was dry I gently pushed it out and then coated it with PVA glue and paint to make sure that it held together.

 I created another layout about a trip to a rural museum.  I can't show all the layout here but thought I would put some of the embellishments up.
A fence made from wooden coffee stirrers was dyed with my distress stains and mounted on the hessian from an old shopping bag.

 I had loads of old cogs and a flat battery which I dyed with alcohol inks and used as embellishments.

 I cut cogs from corrugated card and also used some old screws and springs dye the same as the plastic cogs.

 I threaded some old fibres through a buckle and layered onto a dyed piece of old bandaging material.  I finally found a use for this little padlock in my stash.

Children's letters to santa provided the theme for this layout. 

A star cut from a cider can and stained with a mixture of alcohol inks, ink pads and embossing powder provided a fun embellishment.  I dyed an old sheet of stickers with alcohol inks and using the outline as well as the stickers.  I painted an old sheet of blue with a contrasting blue acrylic paint and mounted the stars and presents on it.

 The presents were made from scraps mounted onto card and wrapped in sparkly thread.

 Another christmas layout was embellished with foil snowmen peeking out from under torn and rolled back top paper.  I mounted them on canvas fabric which I had coloured using chalk pastels and sealed with hairspray.

I also used a piece of old bandage which I dyed with my distress stains.

 I made a snowman and reindeer embellishment from a pattern of a Christmas decoration.  I used pieces of rug canvas which I coloured with paint.

Afternoon Tea

Many thanks to Jilli Bean Soup for the inspiration for this layout.  It celebrates an afternoon spent with a church group who were supporting us when we were working as missionaries.

It was a great layout to use up lots of embellishments on.

This little bird was made by shrinking a white plastic shower sponge with my heat gun.  I then coloured it using acrylic paint and cut the bird out when dry.

I backed this little butterfly sticker with acetate coloured with alcohol inks which I also used to colour many of the buttons used on the layout.

I had these plastic cut outs for ages so it was good to find a use for them.

I cut a couple of small cup cakes form patterned paper and mounted them on buttons.

I made this rosette ages ago for another layout but never used it.  I filled the centre with craft glue and then embedded these little beads in the glue.

Summertime

On of the good things about living in our town is that in the summer there are free concerts in the park on a Sunday afternoon.  The music isn't always what we would have paid to go and see but the whole ambience is so wonderful that we try and go as often as we can.

The font for my title is hand drawn, but copied from a free font (Musiker) which I found on-line.

I used a mixture of butterflies to give some dimension to the layout.  This one as cut from parchment.  I painted flower stamens gold to use as antenna.

Cut from patterned paper these butterflies had a single strand of embroidery thread wrapped round the centre and very small beads tied on to the ends of the thread.

For this btterfly I modified an embellishment I had had in my goodie box for quite a time.

It was very bling which would just not fit the layout so I used the back of it.  Using my distress stains I coloured it.  Then with a permanent marker I coloured the centre in.  I finished it with small beads stuck on the wings.

I made three little tabbed journalling blocks.  Labelled them with small alpha tiles mad with my little stamps and made a pocket for them to all slot into together.

One Year on

I made this mini album to celebrate my nieces first birthday.  It was a quiet celebration with just us and her two sets of grandparents.  I wanted to show not only photos of her but photos of the rest of the family.

 

 I kept each page with the same layout.
I cut flowers from patterned paper and embellished them with a button in the centre.

On the front of each tag I created words using tiles made using my mini alpha stamps.  On the reverse of each tab I punched a small flower, coloured it using an ink pad and then clear heat embossed it.   For the flower centre I used an old yellow nail polish and then mounted it on a clear plastic leaf.

 I used several stamped mini tags on each page to hold my journalling.  Instead of punching a hole at the top of each I embellished them with small red beads.

 On each page I used a word torn form a dictionary.  The words were of course all relevant to the occasion.  I coloured them using my chalk pastels.

Coincidence

Thanks to Creative Craft World for inspiration for this page.  It records a chance meeting with a friend.  At the time I wrote down how Peter and I had come to be in Windsor that day and recorded odd bits of our conversation.  I have used these as journalling on the tags. 

I mounted my photo onto old packaging and used some wooden embellishments Mum had given me for Christmas to decorate it with.  I left the three main circles plain but dyed the two in the corner with my distress inks.

Jubilee

Once again sorry I can't show the photos here.
I kept this LO very simple but was pleased with the final effect.

The circles around the photos I made by inking the rim of a glass and using it to stamp onto the page.  I then used my sewing machine to stitch the circle.  The title I made by writing it in pencil and then zig zagging over it.

Moving On

My creativity took a walk on this LO but although I struggled to come up with this idea I am moderately pleased with the finished page.  Sorry that I can't publish the photo for this or my next post.  This page celebrates my last day in my job before I moved onto my next one.  I cut the photo into a chevron shape to give the idea of movement and then painted the alphas with stripes to give the same impression.  The small circles have been punched out of netting which I coloured with alcohol inks.

Holiday in a Shed

This layout is based around a holiday on the Welsh Boarders where we stayed in what was grandly described as a log cabin but in reality was a large garden shed.  In my attempt to use up some of my scrap paper I have used multiple strips to layer my photo's onto.  I have also used parts of tourist guides and maps.  A couple of the strips are from cardboard boxes/baskets which contained easter eggs and one piece is from an oat cakes box.  I gutted the base card behind the photos and strips so that I could use it for my title and the mat my photos.

 For my journalling label I cut out the outline left over from a label sticker and stuck it onto and old map.  I then cut out a disc from the map and attached it as as tag.  The label slots behind my photos.

 To attach the tag I used a small piece of recycled cord which was one of many strands which had made up the handle of my old torn shopping bag.  The bag has been used in many layouts as it is a lovely Hessian.

 I was really pleased with the title as when I came to stamp it I found that I had lost the 'a' stamp.  So i made a stencil from another 'a' stamp, and inked over it leaving a silhouette of the a on the card.  I then used my glue pen to fill in the centre and put embossing ink over it all. Then I cut the ragged edges off to form a nice smooth square.