Friday 25 October 2013

A Christmas Notebook!

Hello - Jenny here today!

With just over 8 weeks to go (I know - scary how fast time goes!) it really is time to turn out thoughts to our Christmas crafting!

Every year at Christmas time I have a little notebook in which I keep a record of all the presents I have bought so I don't forget anyone or more likely buy another present when I've already got one squirrelled away for them!




This year I thought I would make myself a pretty one so I set about altering this notebook.



It was a pretty bog standard spiral bound notebook, which cost me less than a £1 when I bought it. I started off by levering the spiral open to remove the covers.



 I used a promarker to do this so I didn't bend the spiral out of shape.

  

I have covered the front and the back with kraft card and then added a panel to the front using papers from Teresa Collins Santa's List 6 x 6 pad. I've cut an aperture in the paper and put my image behind the hole. I used a cute penguin image coloured with my promarkers. I have heat embossed the silver on his hat and scarf and given him some stickles snow to stand on. For the finishing touches I  added some red twine and punched snowflakes with red gems added to the centre and tied a variety of ribbons to the spiral bound once it was back in place to pretty it up.
  


On the inside of the back cover I have added a pocket cut out of kraft card so that I can add any receipts I wish to keep. I created the pretty shape on the top edge of the pocket using one of my nestabilities dies.

I hope this might inspire you to make your own festive notebook - you could keep your "To do" list or your menu ideas in it as well as present ideas!

Don't forget you still have a few days to enter the Six Cards Challenge - we are loving visiting your blogs to see your cards and don't forget each time you link up six cards you gain an entry into the Big Draw to win a box of stash!!

Thanks for visiting today!

Jenny is a busy Mum with three children and regularly blogs her cards and crafts at Dragonllews Spot


Wednesday 16 October 2013

More Dapper Dan And vellum!

Hello! 
Louise back today with more Dapper Dan and vellum!
If you missed the other post, you can catch up on that here!

3. Vellum pockets. 

The boy's looked very smart after their back to school haircuts, so I took a quick photo outside the barbers, with their lollipops (They are still young enough to be offered a lollipop after having their haircut...and once upon a time the only way I could get them to the hairdressers.)

Initially I made the vellum pocket to hold my journalling in. As the page progressed I ended up filling the vellum pockets with tiny white hearts (you might just be able to make them out) and adding my journalling to a tag that I slipped behind the pocket.

Because my son is wearing a red t-shirt I used red as an accent colour. Did you notice the "Instagrammed" stamp...how cool is that!?

The pocket was machine stitched to the layout, filled and sealed with alpha stickers to make the title.






 4. Using vellum on cards.

Using a few scraps of left over vellum, I added it to a couple of cards made with the Dapper Dan papers.

As with my layouts I used the vellum as a background, layered it and punched the edge.


Like many scrapbooking techniques and tools, vellum seems to have come full circle.  I've spent the past hour working back through my albums to pinpoint the first time I used vellum on my layouts. I think it was around 11-12 years ago now. It looks as if, then red vellum was a firm favourite of mine.

I hope these layouts have inspired you to think about using the Dapper Dan collection to scrap your favourite boy(s) back to school or sports photos.

Dapper Dan truly is a wonderful collection designed especially with boys/men in mind. Thank you Sarah for letting me have the pleasure of working with it and capturing more memories.

Thanks for visiting the blog today - we'd love to hear your comments on vellum!!

Louise x

Supplies used in these projects can be found here: Dapper Dan

See more of Louise's crafting on her blog: Boys, bugs and beautiful buttons

Thursday 10 October 2013

Dapper Dan And Vellum!!

Hello everyone!

Louise here today to share with you the new Dapper Dan collection from the wonderful Glitz Designs. When I received my DT pack from Sarah, it struck me that this is a very masculine collection full of bold colours and patterns - perfect for my boys. I pulled together some stamps, embellishments and vellum that I thought would work well with it.

Recently I've joined Instagram and I love collecting everyday photos. I knew that some of photos I'd Instagramed would work perfectly with Dapper Dan. I used my home printer to print the photos I'm sharing today, complete with the instagram effects.

Vellum seems to be coming back into crafting lately so I also want to show you a few ways to incorporate vellum into your scrapbooking.

1. Using vellum to layer and soften

I wanted lots of layers for this photo. It was the start of the rugby season at the beginning of September. Kitted out in his new boots, I wanted to record how long my little man has been playing.

I've used six different patterns from the Dapper Dan pad (some were small pieces of pattern rather than whole 6x6 sheets) with two layers of vellum to soften some of the bold colours and patterns. With one sheet of vellum I punched circles into it to allow the strong colour and pattern to show through.













I used stamps to fill in the background gaps. I love this technique, it gives me a chance too, to hook out stamps that I don't use often....or have forgotten I have.

The little woodgrain tiny alphas were perfect for adding the year.

Using all of these layers allowed me to hide my journalling underneath.




2. Using vellum to embellish.

Having to wear a shirt and tie is all part of starting secondary school. The day before my gorgeous man started school he realised he didn't know how to tie a tie, so a quick demonstration with dad and he had it down to a fine art.  Another moment I captured on my phone and instagramed.

The Dapper Dan collection is predominately blue, green and browns. Again I used many patterns on this layout, using shapes cut from scraps.

With this layout I used vellum between the layers of patterned paper and on its own to create an embellished section.

Using a border punch on the edges adds an extra embellished detail.



I journalled onto a tag made from the Dapper Dan patterned paper and tucked it under the layers and photo.



I have another layout and a couple of cards to show you so I hope you'll come back to see that in a day or two!

Have you used vellum lately or does this post make you want to try adding it to a layout?

Louise x

You can see more of Louise's crafting at Boys, Bugs and Beautiful Buttons where she regularly blogs about scrapbooking, card making and life with her boys!!

Supplies used:

Dapper Dan 6 x 6 pad

 




     




Sunday 6 October 2013

October's Six Cards on the 6th!

Hello and welcome to October's Six Card's on the 6th! Do you know it's only 80 days until Christmas?! Sorry to scare you, but it's time to get crafting for the festive season!

This series is all about inspiring you to get those Christmas cards made in time. You can link up your own cards at any time throughout the month, and at the end of the series one link-up from all the posts will win a pizza box stuffed full with scrapbook stash!

If you join in with the series we'd love you to copy this button into your post or sidebar! Just select all the text in the box below the image, and copy that either into a html gadget (or text widget) in your sidebar, or into the html on a blog post. Then the button will appear and will be linked back to the series - your button won't have a box underneath!

 photo Sixon6thbutton200pix_zps673fb713.jpg


Today we have cards by Lisa-Jane and Sarah to make you feel festive!

First up is Lisa-Jane:

I was working with some supplies from the fun new Simple Stories "December Documented" collection:


  This pack included some transparent overlays, which gave me the idea to make some shaker cards! I used the cut apart sheets and stickers to make different backgrounds and foregrounds for my glittery creations. For some finishing touches I added sparkly ribbons and trims and a few snowflake brads from my stash:








Next up is Sarah:

I opted for a red and grey colour scheme this month, using Echo Park's "Reflections Christmas" and Glitz "Hello December" papers. I also added a paper doily to four of the cards - they all have a nice vintage feel: 


Didn't Lisa-Jane and Sarah make some gorgeous cards? It's really not hard to make six cards if you use a common idea for the set. If you are struggling to come up with a 'kit' to make six cards you can always think of a theme like 'vintage' or 'sparkly' to work out what items to pull together!

Now it's your turn! Link up your cards below for a chance to win the pizza box full of stash (prize will go out in early January). We can't wait to see what you create!

Jennifer x

Thursday 3 October 2013

Chalk Studio Part Two - Timeless Chalkboard!

Hello, Jennifer here with more projects using My Mind's Eye's Chalk Studio collection! Today I want to show you how timeless these chalkboard embellishments are. You can use them for any season, just by changing the papers and other embellishments you put with them! 

The below projects are all cards, but the same techniques can be applied to layouts and other projects.

First up is a card for Halloween. I've been taking my daughter Trick-or-Treating for the last couple of years with a group of mums and kids. One of the other mums (who loves Halloween), is due to have a baby that week, so she won't be coming this year. I'm going to send her this card to make her feel part of it!

Admit One To Spooky Town:


I don't have any Halloween supplies, so I used some orange patterned paper, black and white cardstock, a twirly corner stamp, and the awesome Chalk Studio embellishments to create the spooky feel - the lines surrounding 'Admit One' look almost like bones! 

The word 'spooky' is heat embossed with white embossing powder to give it a ghostly sheen, which is a great texture difference to the chalky label. I finished the card off with a few black pearls and doodled lines around them so they became spiders!

Next is a traditional-looking Christmas card...

Be Good:


The 'Be Good' sentiment on here really stands out with a Chalk Studio Label Sticker backing it. I love the Chipboard Elements banner along the bottom like a ribbon, it looks like the reindeer is jumping across some snowy ground at night-time! I also added a couple of pieces at the top left to resemble icicles. The black chalkboard elements really help the traditional reds and greens to pop from the page!

Finally, here's a card for Valentines Day, though you could use it to send a little love at any time of year...

True Love 4 EVA:


For this card I teamed the Chalk Studio items up with the Glitz Wild & Free 6x6 Pad and Giant Rhinestones. All the hearts were perfect! I amped up the chalkboard on here by layering a Decorative Frame on top of a Label Sticker. The glittery number 4 and the yellow dots made with a pearl pen stop it looking too dark. The 'Well Hello' sentiment adds a cheeky touch that makes me smile!

I'm really loving the chalkboard trend and I know I'm going to be using the embellishments up completely! 

Don't forget these ideas from my two Chalk Studio posts for how to use the embellishments:

  • Frame small photos (you could adhere one with foam dots)
  • Journal onto the Labels using a white gel pen
  • Push some chalkboard items right up to the edge
  • Add colour to the chalkboard
  • Layer a sentiment piece onto another embellishment
  • Heat emboss onto a Label
  • Use a chipboard border like a ribbon
  • Put chalkboard on top of chalkboard!

And if these cards have given you some ideas, you can still join in with our Six Cards on the 6th series to be in with a chance of winning a pizza box filled with stash! There's a couple of days left on the current linky, and a new one will be here on the 6th of October!

Jennifer x

Check out more of Jennifer's layouts and cards at her blog Jennifer Grace Creates.