DIY Embellishments

Meant to mention before, I've done a tutorial over at It's A Creative World on creating little puffy embellishments for your scrapbooks, cards and other papercrafting projects.

All instructions and pics of the finished embellies can be found here.

Not an art lover

That's Josh! This photo is from one of the few times we had a painting session at home. And once he got to Playgroup, forget it! He never bought any pictures back, he hated cutting, sticking, painting, drawing, all of it. I remember getting so excited the one time he did bring a picture home, only to find out that the assistant had done it under his instruction as what colours to use! And he still feels the same way now he is a teen.

This page is for the Creative Scrappers sketch #118 which was revealed yesterday. Please go and check out what everyone else on the design team did, they created such fabulous pages.

Product used:

Papers, die cuts, chipboard, Cosmo Cricket
Star die cuts (from felt) Sizzix
Rub-on alpha Making Memories
Black pen Sharpie
Misc buttons, brads, paint


And this is the sketch. If you play along, please don't forget to add your link to Mr Linky over at the Creative Scrappers blog to be in with a chance to win the monthly prize.

Creative Scrappers toot and Basic Grey goodies :)

I made the sketch team, I'm so thrilled to be continuing with this inspirational site! There is also a call out for the next design team - give it a go, the sketches are all fabulous to work with and Kristine welcomes a whole range of scrapbooking styles!

Whilst I'm here I'll share a few of the projects I did for A Trip Down Memory Lane for July. These four projects use the Max and Whiskers range from Basic Grey. Some really cute stuff in this range, seriously!

This first one is a very old picture of Josh on a visit to Whitepost Farm. He loved the small animal and bird handling sessions. I can't get him interested in going any more (he's 15 now) but at least my daughters still love to visit there.






















Another older photo. The cats used to absolutely love going to sleep in the 'comfy' double pushchair which was kept up in the conservatory ready for walks in the village (the fold up double buggy was kept in the car all the time). They are British Blue Shorthair cats, hence the play on words for the title.






















I had this plain wooden box from IKEA for YEARS! That long I can't remember buying it! Anyhow, I painted it with a dusky blue paint and added distress inks for an even more muted look. It's a great little container for keeping together the fish food and drops next to the tank - and saves the bottles getting knocked off the table when the cats jump up to watch their very own 'cat tv'.























Lastly this card. I have to admit that it hurt sending this card - only because I loved it so much, not because of who it was sent to - it was sent to one of the teachers at the end of year. I absolutely adore that bunny die cut.
















Next shares will be more digital scrapbooking as well as the next reveal over at Creative Scrappers.

More from my scrapping frenzy

from a couple of weeks ago! I've been so busy that sharing these projects fell by the wayside.

This first one is based on sketch #115 at Creative Scrappers


Though, as you can see, I flipped the sketch and extended the title somewhat (LOL!).

Product used:

Patterned papers - Making Memories, Little Yellow Bicycle
Stickers/die cuts - Little Yellow Bicycle
Flower trim - Webster's Pages
Flowers - Prima
Alphabets - Adornit, My Little Shoebox, Scrapworks, American Crafts


Oh and lots of pretty pearliness.

Next up is a page which records the special friendship between my youngest daughter and my husband's closest and oldest friend.



Products used:

Patterned papers - Scenic Route, Chatterbox
Acrylic heart - Heidi Grace
Scalloped Edge cardstock - Bazzill
Phrase sticker - Chatterbox
Chipboard frame - Maya Road
Phrase stamp - Art Warehouse
Dymo, paint, stickles


I painted the frame white and then liberally applied frosted lace Stickles over the top.


Finally a trio of cards using the Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday range. I love the sheet of 'cards' they are just perfect for cutting up and adding a super easy but pretty element to cards. The sentiment on the first one is a Hero Arts stamp











Sending you smiles and wishing you all an especially happy day (after all it IS Friday!).

Just a quickie to let you know ...

that the Owl Tree Studio gallery and forum are up and running! Please pop on over, join in our discussions and start uploading your layouts created with Owl Tree Studio products. We’re going to be randomly giving away some one month memberships and other goodies to participants and I would love for you to be one of the winners!

Also, in celebration of putting the last piece of the site puzzle into place, Tiffany has extended the fabulous $7.95 promotional membership pricing until August 15th. If you didn’t get a chance to sign up last week, go ahead and sign up today!
The August gallery over at A Trip Down Memory Lane went live a couple of days ago. We had yummy new papers and stickers from Echo Park to play with. Such a fun range!

Here are sneak peeks of some of my pages - I did four layouts altogether - just click on the previous link to go and see them (and the gorgeousness by the other DT members) up close and personal :)


They also have LOTS AND LOTS of yummy new goodies now in stock. I adore the 7Gypsies rubbings (rub-ons in other words), they are such beautiful designs and they actually DO rub-on and so easily too (even the very old ones I have in my stash).

I have my eyes on this set in particular.






















And what about the Conservatory collection? I'm still loving butterflies in my scrapbooking so this one caught my eye straight away but, really, all the papers in this range are particularly beautiful and perfect for using on altered projects especially.


And some new stamp sets from Autumn Leaves. Loving this Silhouette Blossom set.













All the new products (this is only a taster) can be found in their New Products section (unsurprisingly!).

Thank you :)

To everyone everywhere for their heartwarming birthday messages yesterday.

Made a snap decision when I collected Josh from swimming to go to the pics, so me and him went to see Inception (was going to be the A Team but I couldn't be bothered to wait until 9.15!). Really enjoyed it, one of those 'huh?!' films but an enjoyable action film which made you think and gave us lots to talk about in the car on the way home.

Yesterday the Creative Scrappers sketch #116 went live, another fabby sketch.


Which I turned upside down cos it suited my photos better doing that.


Products used:

Patterned papers - Fancy Pants, Scenic Route, Sassafrass
Stickers -  Sassafrass, 7Gypsies
Alphas - Doodlebug, Adornit
Fabric brad - Little Yellow Bicycle

Remember, if you join along with any of the sketches for the month, add your links to the blog and be in for a chance to win a prize. Have fun :)

Happy Birthday to me!

Forty*something* today. Parents and inlaws coming around for Sunday dinner so off to make house presentable and cook roast chicken and all the stuff that goes with it.

Had a lovely day at crop yesterday and managed to complete three layouts and start a fourth. Will share later when photos taken.

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday :)

Feeling Good!

I just fancied a quick play with digi again - I'm off to crop tomorrow and so will be playing with paper and glue then (oh and eating cake .... done a huge batch of baking today for taking cake to crop tomorrow, to keep my 'promise' from the school auction, for keeping here ready for Sunday - my birthday! - and some plain buns to go into a trifle for tea on Sunday). Just had a piece of the choccie cake ... divine even if I say so myself! (love my old Be-Ro recipe book).


This kit is sooooooooo cute! (yes, worthy of that many o's). It's the Feelin' Good kit by Girl Boy Girl Designs (with a couple of papers borrowed from the Life's a Beach freebie kit and Casa Mia kit) and is available exclusively to members over at Owl Tree Studio.

Fonts used are CKbedrock (title) and CKbuddies (journaling) and the tabbed journal clipping masks are by my own fair hand.

In case you haven't heard (maybe because you've been on an exotic vacation without internet or maybe you've been away from digi-land), Owl Tree Studio is officially open. In case you haven't heard enough from me about how much I am loving their products, here’s an official summary of what you’re guaranteed to get each month as an inside member:


1 Mega Collaboration Kit
3 Individually Created Designer Kits
3 Designer Bonus Items (examples include frame packs, brush sets, Alpha packs, etc)
16+ quick pages created by our creative team
2 project tutorials that walk you through the process of using our digital goodies for tangible crafts
Unannounced goodies throughout the month, including page templates

Starting in September, Owl Tree Studio be featuring a new guest designer every month and you’ll receive an extra individual kit AND an extra designer bonus each month. Exciting!

It may sound a little sensationalist, but for the money, there is no better value on digital design available online. Not only are the Owl Tree Studio designers incredibly talented and responsive to inside members, their products go through rigorous quality control testing to ensure that the products you receive each month are ready to be turned into beautiful layouts and art for printing. There are absolutely no strays or jaggies in their products (I would know, since I've seen all of them).

Their monthly product line is full of digital goodies you won’t want to miss out on. All of the Owl Tree Studio products are ONLY available through Owl Tree Studio and are only available for a one month period of time. If you see a kit you like, you’ll have to be a member of Owl Tree Studio during the month it is featured to add it to your stash.

The regular monthly membership rate is $9.95. However, if you ; sign up by the end of this week (August 8th), you’ll lock in the charter rate of $7.95 per month and your monthly subscription is guaranteed to never go up, even if the pricing does. Plus, because you're getting in so early, you'll also get the chance to give your input on future kits. It feels amazing to receive products that are created around your requests and needs.

Inspiration at It's a Creative World

I have been lucky enough to be asked to guest design over at the wonderful inspiration blog It's a Creative World over the Summer period. If you aren't familiar with the site, the talented ladies provide all sorts of home making and crafty inspiration, from baking to sewing, embroidery, altered art, gardening and more!

My second post went live yesterday, all about creating with digital collage stamps.


My first post looked at using premade digital templates to print out shaped photo collages.


Hmmm. There seems to be a theme here doesn't there? Bit strange for someone like me who considers themselves a technophobe. Well, if I can figure these things out then, rest assured, anyone can!

Another scrapping frenzy


Paper scrapping this time. Spent the last couple of days scrapping up a storm for challenges over at Two Peas in a Bucket CHA Social event.

And without boring you with any more waffle, here's all the stuff I did! Erm, actually, I think I will split the share over a couple of day's worth of posts because there is quite a lot!

For the altered project challenge, I decorated another Maya Road container. This time it's for Chiara to fill with photos and messages and stuff for her friend who will be going to a different high school.


Products used:
All Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday papers and chipboard
Fiskars Apron Lace punch
Ribbon, twine, gems, button

This was for the challenge to be inspired by a project in your faves folder. I chose this page by findingnana. And what a mess I made originally. I had the bright idea to add the stamped journal block directly to the page. At the first attempt the image didn't come out cleanly, so I went to overstamp it and dropped the stamp onto the page! I had to take it all apart and build the whole page up again. At least the end result was worth it!


Products used

Patterned papers - Making Memories, My Mind's Eye, Little Yellow Bicycle
Die cuts - My Mind's Eye
Stamp - Autumn Leaves
Punch - Fiskars
Stickers - 7Gypsies
Alphabets - American Crafts and, erm, other!
Button, pearls and brush marker

I always wanted a sister myself so I am excited for the girls - not only for the bond and fun they share now, but for all the things they can enjoy being to each other and doing together in the future.


All the smaller hearts were cut out of a piece of patterned paper from the Sweet Love range by Little Yellow Bicycle. Gorgeous papers, all with a wonderful shimmery finish to them.

This next was for the challenge to scrap a family relationship. Again I chose the two girls. I know, but I have SO many wonderful photos of them, plus I was in the mood for lots of pretty papers.


Products Used

Patterned papers and felt die cut - Fancy Pants
Flowers, metal tab, journal spot, word tags - Making Memories
Epoxy love sticker - Creative Imaginations
Crystals - Prima, Basic Grey
Chipboard frame - K&Co
Chipboard letters - American Crafts
Sticker label - Jenni Bowlin
Clear phrase sticker - Cloud 9


LOTS and lots of old stash being used up here!

Final share for today was for the be inspired by a garden girl project. I chose this page by Shannon Tidwell. Honestly! I flipped the design and added my own spin to it, but I loved the blocked design, the bracket shape and use of scalloped edges.


Products used

Patterned Papers - My Mind's Eye, Making Memories
Alphabets - Adornit, American Crafts, Scrapworks
And lots of flowers, buttons, brads and bling!

This page also meets the challenge over at How Much is Too Much - I check this blog out a lot because I love the inspiration but I am not good at sticking to the numbers usually. This time I managed it!


I did struggle with the two ribbons I have to admit ... just squeezed a tiny bit of the second ribbon on the focal flower look!

Owl Tree Studio now open!

Owl Tree Studio opened it's doors for business yesterday. It's a digital scrapbooking kit club and I just noticed that they have got an opening offer on the monthly membership - just $7.95 - that is good for as long as you remain a member. What a fabulous deal! Check out the blog for more details.

As I mentioned before, I've been lucky enough to join the Creative Team there and I just wanted to share a couple of pages I have created using the August membership products.


Now I'm working on some 'just for fun' paper scrapbook layouts which I will share in the next day or so.

Credits -

Casa Mia kit by Lina Tieu (I recoloured and removed the lines from the scalloped circle journal labels) and separated out the word 'sweet' from the 'home sweet home' title.

Neutral frames by Girl Boy Girl Designs.

Everyday Words by Wild Blueberry Ink.


Credits - Casa Mia kit by Lina Tieu (again I recoloured the scalloped circle journaling labels). I also isolated one of the hearts from the pink hearts paper and used the cookie cutter tool to create a small heart/circle embellishment.

Everyday Words by Wild Blueberry Ink. I recoloured the word strips and isolated the 'together' from the 'always together' phrase.


Credits -

This third page was created using the August Collab kit. Love the bold, vibrant colours and fun elements and that frame is so useful!

This is the page that I created the quick page from too.

Check out the August product reveal to see what $7.95 will get you ... though there are also going to be so many more bonuses throughout the month such as tips and tricks, more elements, inspiration and craft projects too.

Digi Scrapping frenzy

Working on my digi skills, figuring out how to make quick pages, templates, clipping masks and so on. Have had lots of fun playing :)

I took part in the portfolio challenges over at Sweet Shoppe Designs in July, some of my creations are below:




All are made with products from Sweet Shoppe Design (various) and Owl Tree Studio (Life's a Beach freebie).

Also finished my pages for the A Trip Down Memory Lane August gallery which will be going live in a week or so. Lovely, bright papers from Echo Park - great fun to work with!