Saturday, December 22, 2012

Church Trinket Box

Church Trinket Box
Cricut + SVG Cuts = Last Minute Life Saver!


Here's a Christmas cutie that took me all of 10 minutes to throw together.  The pattern is from SVG Cuts, the paper is Twig and Berries by Kaisercraft, the sigh of relief is mine! 



Church Trinket Box 

Linking it up with the fabulous folks at Make it Monday.

Baby Blocks (not so) Mini Album

ABC2

Excuse me while I collapse in an exhausted heap!  Have you ever undertaken a project that was so big part way through you thought to yourself "what have I done?"  This baby blocks album is one of those projects.  It's huge.  Enormous.  Pain staking.  Totally worth it but I swear I will never EVER make another one in my life!

ABC Photo Album

This album is an impressive decor piece that consists of a functional draw and three blocks, each block measures 5.5" square, and in total the piece when assembled sits at around 14" high.

The pattern is called "A Year In Review" and if you would like to see the album in live action you can watch this video by the patterns author, Kathy Orta.

ABC Photo Album

Each block houses a draw that holds two hinged frames, and each hinged frame holds two albums, for a total of four albums per block.

ABC Photo Album


ABC Photo Album


  ABC Photo Album

There are three blocks, giving a total of 12 albums, hence the title "A Year In Review".   The entire project is intended to record the baby's first year.


ABC Photo Album 

Each mini album has three pocket pages inside, and there is a double photo mat slipped inside each pocket page. This album has a lot of real estate for holding those precious baby moments. 


ABC Photo Album


I have used the beautiful Little Darlings paper range by Graphic 45 throughout the album, offset by Vanilla card stock by Kaisercraft. I am so glad this is done! 

This project has taken me a good two months to complete. Not every day, but every minute I have had spare to craft I have spent it on this and finally completed it two days ago in a mad pre-Christmas-I-bet-the-baby-is-going-to-come-early panic. 

My dearest friend and his lovely wife are expecting their first baby in a matter of days. Girl, you can pop that little Prince out now, his present is done! :o)

Sharing this with the lovely folks at:

Make It Monday - Always Anything Goes 

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Crackers!

Christmas Crackers 


This is the last Christmas Crafting! challenge before Christmas and things in my personal life have been so chaotic and dramatic that when Arline offered me a free pass for this month I almost took it.  But then I stopped and thought, it's a rare few who don't go through chaos and drama at this time of the year.  So I set my mind to coming up with a project that was quick and easy, something we all need as the days count down.


Christmas Cracker


These sweet little crackers come from SVG Cuts, as part of their Gingerbread Chalet collection. 

They take no time at all to cut with the cutting machine and assembly is as simple as gluing the long ends together and then gathering up the ends with ribbon.  I reckon it took almost four times as long to take the photos of the crackers as it did to make them!

The paper collection I have used here is Mint Twist by Kaisercraft.

If you have a moment this holiday season where you feel like everything is falling down around you and you maybe, just maybe, be going a little bit crackers,  I hope that you can take a deep breath and remember that some how, some day it will all be ok.

Edited on 4th December to add:

Arline just emailed and said that Blogger is being difficult and she hasn't been able to upload the new challenge yet (and here I could have had a few more days up my sleeve LOL).  She is working on it and will have it up as soon as possible.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Cookie Factory Recipe Album

Cookie Recipe Album


The challenge this month at Christmas Crafting! was to use decoupage.  I have a thing for recipe albums at the moment, and when I went through my stash and rediscovered my Santa's Village Collection by Laurie Furnell, I knew I wanted to make a recipe album with her gorgeous artwork.


To start I printed off four copies of the cookie factory image and sealed the back of them with Liquitex Gloss Medium (Modge Podge will do the same thing).  This is important because the Liquid Scrap Dots that I used for dimension is essentially the same stuff as silicone and will leach through the back of unsealed paper leaving a dark spot.

Once sealed, I set aside one image to be used as the base and then cut up each of the remaining three images for layering.  Most kits purchased today have done the guess work for you, but it's not that hard to look at an image and think about the perspective and then cut out what will be the background, middle and foreground.

Cookie Recipe Album


I didn't get too intensive with the layering as this is a functional item and I didn't want either too much height, or fiddly bits that might drop off when the album is used.

The yellow frame I made with scrap cuts of chipboard adhered together in two layers, and then covered it all with Jo Sonja Texture Paste.  This is a thick, white paste that lets you create dimension, in this case I used it to make the frame look like it was covered in frosting.  Once dry I painted with acrylic paints and dusted with glitter.

Cookie Recipe Album


Once the image and frame were ready it was just a matter of assembling them onto the cover.  The front and back covers are thick chipboard covered with papers included in the Santa's Village kit, and the interior pages are all cut from plain Kraft card.  I inked the edges of all of the pages with white ink to give it a 'dusted' appearance, and then used the Zutter to punch and bind it all together.

Cookie Recipe Album


The recipe card was created using Word and the elements from the Santa's Village kit.  There are 18 pages in the album in total, 9 of which have the recipe card on the front and back, and the remaining 9 have been decorated with either white rick rack to simulate the icing on gingerbread, or with ribbon and 'gumdrop buttons'.  I left 9 blank pages so that the recipient could either put in photographs or use it as a scrap book and glue in recipes found in magazines.

Cookie Recipe Album


The finishing touch was to decorate the wire binding with ribbons and fibres. Don't tell anyone but this hides any imperfections in the binding!


Cookie Recipe Album
 
I hope I have inspired you to go and create something fabulous using the decoupage technique.  Remember you don't need to purchase special kits, just find an image that you like and use your own perspective to create dimension. 

Linking this up at Make It Monday:  Challenge #113

Friday, October 26, 2012

Nuts About You - Decorated Paint Can

Nuts About You Paint Can

Good morning!  It's a beautiful spring Saturday morning here in Adelaide, I've been to the library, gone for a walk along the beach and now it's time for some coffee and blogging.

Today I have a decorated paint can to share with you.  I love the way you can see through to the contents, being able to see the colours and textures of the contents adds another dimension, although I think it does make decorating a little more challenging. 

For this can I used a Mo Manning image called Monkey Hug... I might be totally in love with her illustrations and find it difficult to colour anything else!  The image is printed onto Kraft paper and coloured with Prismacolor pencils.  Of course, with both a monkey and an elephant I had to fill the can with whole shell peanuts :o)

I have used a Fiskars punch to get the grass, and I cut the leaves on my Cricut using a free svg file from SVG Cuts called tropical leaf. I also used the Cricut and SCAL to cut out the words "nuts about you", which decorate the lid.


Nuts About You Paint Can

I am linking this up with:

Mo's Challenge Blog:  Cute and Cuddly
Make It Monday:  #112


Monday, October 15, 2012

Halloween Lantern


Halloween Luminary

This is a project my son and I created together.  My boy is 12 years old and I think he loves my Cricut almost as much as I do!  I have taught him how to use the SCAL software and he knows how to import the cut files, how to load the paper into the Cricut and use the cut function to get it cutting.  The only thing I did was add and remove the paper on and off the cutting mat, and glue the final pieces together, the rest was all him!

Halloween Luminary

Because of the transparencies and being able to see right through the lantern to both sides I fear I haven't been able to photograph the luminary in such a way as to do justice to it, but hopefully you get an idea of how striking it is when it's dark and the tea light is turned on.  (Note:  as this is paper only use a battery operated tea light).

The lantern is comprised of four simple panels which are glued together and then attached to the base.  The pattern is from the Midnight Jamboree collection which you can find at SVG Cuts.  I used plain black card stock, and recycled acetate from packing so in total the whole project only cost a few cents to make.

The wonderful stained glass was my idea, implemented with total glee and abandon by my son.  I cut out four pieces of acetate and then gave my son red and orange copic markers and told him to colour it in as messy as he wanted.  He loved that part, he giggled the entire time!  I then used a spray bottle containing isopropyl alcohol to mist the acetate which causes the copic ink (which is alcohol based) to bleed and blend into each other creating the gorgeous multicoloured stained glass effect.

Linking this up with the fabulous folks at Make It Monday.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Twig & Berry Mini Album


Twig & Berry Mini Album


When I made the Maisie Book Box, I knew immediately that I wanted to put a mini album inside it, a book within a book!

Twig & Berry Mini Album


To fit inside the box tray the album had to be 3" x 4".  As you can see from the photo above, once the wire binding was added it made a perfect fit.

I used the same paper range to make the album as I did to decorate the book box, Twig and Berry by Kaisercraft.  As this is going to be a gift I have used plain kraft card to indicate where photos, tickets, receipts etc can be stored.  There are 10 double sided pages in total, with plenty of built in space for writing.

Here goes, a shot of all 10 pages...

Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album


Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album

 
Twig & Berry Mini Album


I am linking this up to Make It Monday:  Challenge #110

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Maisie Book Box

Maisie Book Box


I love old books, so when I saw this project at SVG Cuts, I knew I had to make one.  This book box comes as part of the Spirits of Christmas Past kit, which has 5 projects in total.  I had a few weeks there where I didn't have a sharp blade for my Cricut so couldn't cut anything, I swear I had withdrawals!

 
Maisie Book Box


This box stands 5" tall and is 4.5" wide, with a depth of just under 2.5".  I used regular craft card for constructing the base of the box and used the Twig and Berry paper range from Kaisercraft for decorating the panels.  I've embellished with just a simple cluster of flowers and some twine.

 

Maisie Book Box


The edges of the book have been liberally inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and the inner box panels and the side page panel have been embossed and then treated with Antique Linen Distress Ink.

 
Maisie Book Box


The little draw slides out easily and is very roomy.  I am making a 3" x 4" mini album that will fit nicely inside, hopefully I will have photos to share in a few days.


Maisie Book Box


Here's sweet little Maisie, by Mo Manning.  She is coloured on Kraft card using Prismacolor pencils.  I am a little embarrassed to admit I have put my Lyra pencils aside in favour of the Prismacolor, I just love their creamy texture and they blend so beautifully, but mostly because Prisma has almost twice the colour range.

I am linking this up to:

Make It Monday:  Challenge #110
Anything But A Card:  Challenge #3
Mo's Challenge Blog: B is for... (Book Box)

Sunday, September 23, 2012

I Have Issues!


Hello there!  I hope you had a fabulous weekend :o)

A have a quick little make to share this Monday.  I *gulp* am starting college this Wednesday studying for a Diploma Of Counselling.  I have ordered text books, have my notebooks, laptop, everything all ready to go, and I wanted a book mark that reflected not just my personality but what I am studying.

This fabulous image is called Stella Tidbits - Magazine and you can find her at Bugaboo stamps.  I have coloured her with Copics and used a touch of Glossy Accents on her shoes and her glasses.

The bookmark is simply black card stock, folded at the top just like a regular card, intended to slip over the top pages of the book to mark my place.  I added a few simple office supplies to embellish and I now have a book mark that is completely unique to me!

Sharing this with the folks over at Make It Monday, where it's always anything goes.

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Tea For You And Me

Teapot


I feel like I have almost forgotten what life was like without my digital die cutter!  This gorgeous project is called Tea For You And Me and comes from SVG Cuts.  There's a lot of pieces that come together, but it's pretty straight forward and Mary at SVG Cuts always does a fantastic step by step video tutorial to take out the guesswork.  Once the machine had done all the cutting I sat and watched a movie while I glued the pieces together, and by the end of the film it was done.

The teapot measures just over 6" tall and lid comes off to reveal a spacious cavity inside that could be used for holding teabags or loose tea.  I think it would also make a fabulous potpourri holder. 


Teapot 

The teapot base is made from plain manila folder cardstock, inked up with Tea Stain Distress Ink.  The pattern paper overlay is from the Sweet Nothings collection by Kaisercraft, and the lace and ribbon trim came from my local haberdashery store, hand dyed with distress inks.

As usual, sharing this with the fabulous folks at Make It Monday, where it's always anything goes :o)
Also linking to the Anything But A Card challenge blog.


Monday, September 10, 2012

Sleigh Treat Holder

Sleigh Treat Holder 

 More fun with my Cricut!

The sleigh above is a file that comes from SVGCuts and is part of the Santa's Visit SVG Kit.  The kit includes the cutting files to create 6 different projects, great value.


Sleigh Treat Holder


I made the sleigh itself from Kraft card, and decorated with patterned paper by Kaisercraft.  The project comes together quickly and easily, and I can definitely see myself making a lot of these as treat holders.

Sharing this project with Make It Monday where it's always  Anything Goes!

Thanks for looking :o)

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Christmas Crafting! Challenge: Traditional Colours


Candy Cane Tag


We're back!  We took a break for a month at Christmas Crafting!, but now with September here I have already seen fruit mince pies in the grocery stores which means the wind up for Christmas is beginning.

Candy Cane Tag


Our sponsors this month are Lilly Of The Valley, who make the most adorable rubber stamps.  They were kind enough to provide the design team with a few images to work with, and our challenge this month was to use traditional Christmas colours.  


Candy Cane Tag


I love projects that are quick and that use up my scraps, and this fit into both categories!  The images are coloured with copics and then cut out by hand.  I used a circle punch and some nesties to create the backing out of Kaisercraft papers.  The whole thing is then taped to the candy cane using tissue tape.  It came together in a snap and would make a great project for kids.

Thanks for looking, and if you haven't done so yet now is a great time to start your Christmas projects.  Before you know it we will be wondering where the time has gone and be rushing around trying to get everything done in time!