Trying To Read - Altered Book

 

I bought this fabulous digital stamp from Mo Manning titled "Trying to Read" just for the sheer joy of colouring it in, and it was after it was finished I wondered what on earth I was going to do with such a large scale image.  Then like a smack upside the head inspiration came and I knew it was meant to be put into an altered book!

The image itself is printed onto watercolour paper and I used Distress Markers and a Tombow Blender pen.  It takes several layers of colour to build up the shadows and even then it's still quite soft, but I love that about watercolour.  I have also added a layer of iridescent water colour to the bottle, glass and fireflies.

To make the book itself I cut a rectangle out of the hard cover and using a ruler and sharp exacto knife I cut a criss cross through several layers of the pages at once.  I then unceremoniously ripped these out which creates the fantastic jagged edge frame.  Once I had torn through about half the book to get the depth of layering that I wanted I placed a sheet of plastic between the pages where I wanted the image to go and used Mod Podge to adhere the inner torn edges and the outer page edges together.  When dry I brushed gold paint on the edges.

The front layer of the book is decorated with a branch made from paper ribbon, some silk flowers, a bit of oakmoss and some plastic toadstools torn from an unloved and gaudy Christmas decoration.

When all of those layers were dry I removed the sheet of plastic and slipped the finished image into the middle of the book and sealed it shut with one final layer of Mod Podge.  Doing it this way meant that none of the hot glue, paint or adhesive accidentally got on my precious image.

This book has picture hangers on the back so it can be hung on the wall, but it could also easily be displayed on a book stand.  I enjoyed this so much am already thinking about my next one!

Linking this up with:

Mo's Challenge Blog: Lots of Layers
Make it Monday:  Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp:  A is for...

Cupcake Thief Birthday Card

With a month or two until University starts I'm taking advantage of the quiet time to restock my stash with some go to cards.  This little cutie is called Cupcake Thief and she comes from Mo Manning.  She is printed onto watercolour paper and coloured using Distress Markers and Yasutomo iridescent watercolour paints.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fabulous day.  Remember, if you do eat cupcakes today, to burn off those calories afterwards, run like you stole them!

Linking up with:
Mo Manning:  Anything Goes
Make it Monday:  Always Anything Goes

Tin Man Treat Box

 

It's almost Valentines Day, and one of the biggest challenges I find is creating a project that is suitably masculine.  There's a lot more creative scope to create romantic themes when you use lace, flowers and other feminine accents.

For this project I chose another of Mo Manning's gorgeous images, this one is called the Tin Man. The image is printed on Kraft card, and coloured with Primsacolor pencils.

The treat box is a popcorn style box that purchased as a set of 10 from a bargain store.  The designer paper used to cover it is from Ruby Rock It.   I love the black and white contrast and it's speaks suitably of Valentines and love, without being feminine.  The edges have been inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and the project is finished simply with a ribbon and a metal heart charm.

I really enjoyed this project.  This would look great filled with those chocolate hearts covered in red foil... my man doesn't like chocolate so I will probably fill it with cookies.

Entering this into the following challenges:

Mo Manning's DP2 Challenge:  Anything Goes
Make it Monday:  Anything Goes

Well Hello Little One

 

My best friend has had his first child, a son, little JJ.  He was born a healthy 8lb on the 5th January 2013.  I had already made a substantial gift for him (which you can see here), but I wanted a small token to take with me when I went to visit for the first time in hospital.

I used a left over sheet from the same paper collection for this hanging frame that I used for the baby blocks, so it will co-ordinate nicely in his room.  His Mum is a lover of lady bugs, so the cute little darling from Mo Manning was perfect.

He is coloured with Prismacolor pencils on Kraft, and matted with Duck Egg Blue card by Kaisercraft and some left over from the Little Darlings by G45, with a liberal dash of Stormy Sky Distress Ink, which thankfully hides all manner of flaws!

Linking this up with Mo's Challenge Blog, the flavour this week is Anything Goes.
Also linking up with the fab crew at Make it Monday, where it's always Anything Goes.

Nuts About You - Decorated 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.

I am linking this up with:

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

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!

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

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)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Card

This project is a one 'page' layout from a cook book I am making for my girls.  The project was inspired by a Youtube video created by My Scrap World.  You can watch her easy to follow tutorial here.  It's constructed entirely out of manila folders and presents loads of creative options, and if you have time to watch the video you will get an idea of how this one layout will be made into a recipe folio.

The recipe card itself is created with a Mo Manning digital stamp called Bronte and Loius.  Such a cutie! The theme this week at Mo Manning's Challenge Blog is "Friends", and there are no greater friends in the world than a boy and his dog.  The recipe and image are printed on Kraft and coloured with Lyra pencils.

This is a view of the file folder when open, eventually several of these will be be adhered together to create one big recipe file.  The front flap that has the recipe card adhered to it drops down to reveal a recipe for hot fudge sundae cookie cups, as well as a photo of the chocolate chip cookies that I made using this recipe.  Personally I am very visually motivated when it comes to recipes, so I felt it was really important to include photos of what the food actually looks like!

The paper is from a stack called Country Basics by Crafter's Choice, together with regular old manila card files inked with Faded Jeans Distress Ink. 

Thanks for looking, I hope you are having an awesome day! :o)

Live Out Loud

Hello again!

I think as crafters we go through creativity spurts where we find our passions ignited by various ideas.  For me, at the moment, it is mini albums.

I followed a pattern by Kathy Orta at Paper Phenomenom.  The pattern was very easy to follow, step by step photos and very clear instructions, I'll definitely be trying a few more from her store.  This is one of the more grandiose projects I have tried and it was quite difficult to photograph well due to the scale, but I hope you get the idea.

The album itself is constructed from chipboard which I covered with manila folders.

The front has a simple but elegant gold clasp to hold it closed, and a small spray of flowers and a pearl bling, both by Kaisercraft.

The edges have all been inked with Tea Stain Distress Ink and all the designer papers come from the Sweet Nothings collection by Kaisercraft.  This side on view shows you the depth of the album.  It's quite slimline, but as you will see shortly there is still a lot of space for displaying photos.

When you open up the sides the first thing you see is a flip style arrangement of three panels.  Each one is 6" x 4" and can easily hold a photo.  Each is also a pocket so small keepsakes can be stored within.

This is the view when the album is open.  Isn't that paper line just gorgeous, I love the colours, which is unusual, orange is not usually my thing!

On the inside sleeve are more pockets for photo mats, the photo above I have removed them so you can see the sleeves, the photo below you can see the mats inserted into the sleeves.

 

When you open up the flip sleeves you see behind the centrepiece of the album, the main photo mat.

 

On the feature mat you can see one of Mo Manning's beautiful images, called Mummu.   I have used a Sizzix die to create the strip of music, which acts as a catch for the photo mat and the coloured image.  The rubber stamp says "'If you ask me what I came to do in this world I will answer you: I am here to live out loud."  I have stamped this onto a clear acetate overlay, so a photo can be placed underneath.

But wait, there's more!  The main photo mat lifts back to reveal...

Tucked away behind the main mat are more 6 x 4 photo mats tucked into sleeves.   The album has a 2 photo mats on each sleeve, and 4 behind the centre piece, for a total of 8 removable photo mats.

 
 

This was the very first stamped image I coloured, digital or otherwise. I did this over a year ago and put it away in a safe place waiting for just the right project.  It's not perfect, but I love it, and it reminds me of my mother, who also is not perfect but I love her too.  I created this is album for her 60th birthday.

 

I am entering this into the following challenges:

 

Mo's Challenge Blog - Singing and Dancing

Make it Monday - Anything Goes

Before I let you go, if you haven't heard yet, Christmas Crafting is celebrating it's first birthday, which is being extended, there's a blog hop and prizes so head on over!

Gingerbread Recipe Card

This project is one 'page' layout from a cook book I am making for my girls.  The project was inspired by a Youtube video created by My Scrap World.  You can watch her easy to follow tutorial here.  It's constructed entirely out of manila folders and presents loads of creative options, and if you have time to watch the video you will get an idea of how this one layout will be made into a recipe folio.

The recipe card itself is created with a Mo Manning digital stamp called Witches Trick.  Isn't she fabulous! I have coloured her with Lyra pencils on Kraft card.

This is a view of the file folder when open, eventually several of these will be be adhered together to create one big recipe file.  The front flap that has the recipe card adhered to it drops down to reveal a recipe for royal icing, as well as a photo of little gingerbread boys that I made using this recipe.

The right pocket holds a tag which will be used for writing notes.  As this is being handed down to my children I felt it was important that it had my handwriting somewhere, so I will jot down a few notes about the recipe for them.

The paper is from a stack called Country Basics by Crafter's Choice, together with regular old manila card files inked with Weathered Wood Distress Ink.  The stamps "Cooking Together" and "A Tasty Tradition" is from a set called Let's Eat by TPC Studio.  The "Baked Fresh" embellishment is from the Nan's Kitchen collection by Kaisercraft.

Gingerbread clones!  I sent my son to school with a bag of these and some cheese sticks to use at light sabers so he could have gingerbread clone wars :o)

I am entering this project into the following challenges:

Mo's Digital Challenge - Anything Goes w/Mo Image
City Crafter Challenge Blog -  Recipe Card
Make It Monday - Anything Goes

Puppy Love

Card Positioning Systems is celebrating their 5th Anniversary by releasing a sketch a day for 15 days.  I've still got plenty of catch-up to do if I am going to finish all 15!

This card is my interpretation of the day four sketch.  

This card uses my third of four coloured digis by Mo Manning called Pug Love. Once again coloured with Prismacolor pencils, this one blended with odorless solvent.  If you look at this card, and the one in the last post, you can see the difference quite clearly between the two blending mediums.

The background paper is called Love, part of the Vintedge collection by Ruby Rock-It.  The black mat behind the digi has been embossed with hearts, and then sanded to distress and highlight the hearts.  The sentiment is part of a KaiserCraft clear stamp kit called Love.

I am also entering this into Mo's Digital Challenge blog, which has an anything goes theme this week, as well as the Simon Says Stamp Challenge, the theme of which is Animal Antics.

One Of A Kind

 

Card Positioning Systems is celebrating their 5th Anniversary by releasing a sketch a day for 15 days.  I'm playing catch up but it has been great to get the coloured stamps out of plastic baggies and onto cards :o)

This card is my interpretation of the day three sketch.  

The adorable little pup is a Mo Manning digital stamp called Pug Love.  You'll see this pretty puppy appear in several cards, not just because it's so cute, but because I coloured four of them at the same time!  Once again this has been coloured with Prismacolor Pencils, I love, love, love working with them at the moment.  I used baby oil as the blending medium.

Also entering into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge this week, the theme of which is Animal Antics.

Pug Love Valentines Card

 

Materials:

Kraft card

dark brown Bazzil card

"You and Me" Sweet Nothings Collection by Kaisercraft
Pug Love digi by Mo Manning

Donna Salazar's Rose Creations die by Spellbinders

Prismacolor pencils

baby oil

paper stump

scissors, adhesives, etc

I just adore my dogs.  You've seen in movies the way that wealthy women pamper their poodles and pugs, well I'm not quite that bad, not quite.  Mostly I think because they are Mastiffs and at eight months old (giant puppies) they are 80lbs, so they are way too big to pick up and carry around with me, but I think if I could I probably would!

This cute little digi by Mo Manning called Pug Love is a pretty close representation of what my dogs looked like as wee little pups.  I've used Prismacolor pencils, but instead of using an odorless solvent to blend I experimented with baby oil to see which I prefer.  Still undecided on that.

This card is using the layout at Mojo Monday this week, a nice simple one but that suited me as this card is intended for a man for Valentines Day and you know what they think of all things frilly and frou frou.

I'm also entering into Mo's Challenge Blog as the theme this week is "My Favourite Things" and this card includes my favourite colours (creams and browns), my favourite animals (my puppies) and it's for my favourite man (my partner).