Thursday 29 September 2011

WOOT WOOT


Today was a good day, because I am proud as punch to reveal that I have been invited to join the Gel-a-tins Design Team staring my term in November. 
See the announcement HERE

Have you any idea how hard it is going to be for me to wait another month before I can start stamping to my hearts content?
Just have a look at these sets and you will probably understand why I am so giddy about working for this fabulous company



And as I am a firm believer in giving back when you have received, I would love to treat one of my blog readers to a little "stamp love".

I have a set of  three wood mounted stamps to give away.
1. Hampton Art - Scratch Pattern (see it HERE)
2. Hero Arts - Arrow Sign (see a layout using the stamp HERE)
3. Hero Arts - Date (see it HERE)

For your chance to win simply leave a comment - as easy as that. And I will ship internationally of course.
From all entries I will draw a winner on 10 October 2011, so check back here to see it it may be you.
Good luck!

Wednesday 28 September 2011

Donna Salzar Sep II


The below post went live to day on the Donna Salazar Designs Blog with a step-by-step tutorial on how to create this home décor canvas.

** click on any of the images within the post to enlarge/sharpen their view **


I have to admit, I am not really all that comfortable creating home décor projects, I just find it much easier to  get a layout or cards done.
But seeing that we are talking about change this month, I figured I should bite the bullet, put on my big girl panties and get cracking :)

First I took one 6 x 6 blank Canvas Board and started misting it with Smooch Spritz  in Caramel Latte and Pralines and Cream. Usually Smooch Spritz dries incredibly fast but stays wet for a little longer on the canvas. This gave me the great idea to randomly sprinkle some white Top Boss embossing powder on some of the wet areas. I had no idea how it would look once I set it with a heat gun, but the end result was pleasantly surprising.

Next step was to find some papers to add to the background and with the fabulous Antiquities line I was pretty much spoilt for choice. In the end I decided to make use of a piece of scrap from the Time For Tea sheet. I used Donna's All My Love stamp in a very random fashion
(did not even notice I stamped upside down at some stage...what a dork I am!)
and added the Branching Out stamp to the top and bottom edges on the right hand side.
The torn edges were then inked by running Cat's Eye Chalk Ink  in dark brown along them.

I also fussy cut the flower image from the Vintage Gears paper, as this was going to be layered on top of my stamped background.

I adhered both papers onto the canvas with normal wet glue and inked the canvas edges with Chalk Ink in dark brown.

As I am a very dimensional crafter I knew I had  to add some bits and pieces to the left and right of the image, otherwise it would look unfinished to me. But I also wanted to incorporate this wonderful quote, from the Crafty Chronicle:

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail."
- Emerson

Now this is a quote that I have always lived by and will continue to live by. Over the years I have refused to change the way I am, the way I talk, write and dress just to suit what others may find acceptable. The person I am now I have become by sticking to what I feel comfortable with, by going against the stream if I felt it necessary and more often than not have I started a path where others followed my trail.

So, you see it is always worth just to BE YOU, even if it makes your road in life that little bit  bumpier. In the end you feel such a great sense of achievement and pride that it's worth to lead your own path once in a while.

But I digress, let's go back to the project at hand...

The above quote would undoubtedly get lost on the background of the Canvas, so I traced and hand cut a small tag from one of the Artistic 6 x 6 squares. As the background is plain, they are perfect to be altered with Chalk Inks.
First I started to run a Cat's Eye in dune along the edges and then ran it more and more into the middle to give the tag a slightly aged look.
Then I added some more Chalk Ink in Chestnut Roan and Dark Brown to the edges.

All I need to do to complete my tag was to add a self adhesive enforcement ring, cut the above quote from the Crafty Chronicle and glue onto the tag.

During September Donna Salazar Designs teamed up with the fabulous Want2Scrap - where you can get the most amazing chipboard shapes, bling and pearls. As my tag still needed that little something, I added a few teeny weeny Baby Pearls.

Next I took my new favourite die set, Donna's Alphas, and cut the title for my Canvas  with some Corrugated Board - I LOVE how it gives you a grungy/wooden feel straight away. But I still added some Embossing Powder and Vanilla Shimmer Smooch Spritz and outlined the letter edges with Dark Brown Chalk Ink
Tip: you may have to run the die a few times back and forth over the cardboard to get a good cut. Alternatively you can peel a layer of the cardboard away beforehand, which only requires one run through your die cutting machine.

I outlined the shadow cut of one of the butterflies from the Wonderful Wings die set, added some Smooch Spritz in caramel latte. Its detailed counterpart was then covered in Sugar Shimmer Fairy Dust Glitter before I adhered it to the shadow base.

To add some extra dimension to the Canvas, I decided to hand cut the flower images from another sheet of  Vintage Gears and adhere them to the original cut with some adhesive foam, pads.

Finally I cut the Finesse Swirl from Want2Scrap in two and added the two pieces to the left and the top of the tag. I always feel that cutting swirls into pieces makes them go further on your project and you are not restricted as to where to place them.

And there you have it - a piece of home décor to remind you to BE who YOU are.

Products used
Other products
Stickers: Jenni Bowlin
Pens: Uniball Signo in black, Zig Millenium pen in black

Various Trims


Friday 23 September 2011

Papermaze DT - September PT IV


Below post went live recently on the Papermaze Blog

This month I had the pleasure to work with he papers of the relatively new company Authentique. TO be honest, the pictures of their products do not do them justice: I was blown away by how fabulous the patterns and quality of the papers are.

When I had the papers of the Uncommon line in my hands I could not wait to get started....fantastic card stock quality papers and gorgeous patterns, which scream to be used for a vintage look.

I wanted to scrap the picture of my Mum, Auntie and Nan for ages but never had the right papers at hand, until now :)

With the use of adhesive foam pads, I raised some of the punches shapes and hand cut flowers to give the layout more depth.
And I also added one of my tags, which I create a few months back (see THIS post) to the layout...I knew it would come in handy to have them prepared!

I love how the colours grey and pink work fabulous with vintage photographs.
But what do you think fits well with this colour combination?

Products used:
Papers - Authentique: Foundations Bi-Fold, Gifted, Unique, Special
Cardstock - Bazzill
Stickers - American Crafts: Lullabye

Wednesday 21 September 2011

CAL a cowl - WIP


I almost forgot to show you an update on my WIP, for the crochet along with Rachel.

If you are still oohming and aahing about whether or not to pick up a hook and join the crochet brigade, I can only urge you to join is as Rachel's instructions are fabulous and the project she has chosen is perfect for beginners (and a lot of fun for advanced hookers *)
*) am I the only one who still giggles like naughty teenager when she calls herself a hooker?

Anyway, if you want to join in, start with this post and if you want to share how you have come so far with the cowl, check this post out. You can upload your pictures WIP and all to the Flickr group, Rachel created as well.

But enough talk, here is the cowl in its beginning stages, on my way home from work - a little hooky time on the ferry :)

**click on image to enlarge**



Monday 19 September 2011

Let's JAM

I used to love making my own jam when I was still living in Germany and the other day I thought why not give a try again.

My most favourite spread ever is banana jam...
Yup, you read that right. 

A nice piece of fresh bread with butter and banana jam and this girl is is heaven. When done correctly, banana jam is fluffy, like mousse. Only problem is, it looks like someone puked all over your bread.

Once you overcome the fact that the jam looks disgusting, it becomes addictive (unless you are Mr P who thinks that anything other than strawberry jam is just not worth mentioning).

First things first, a trip to Ikea was in order to get some good quality but yet cheap jam jars (I better not mention that quite a few other bits jumped into my shopping cart, of course totally against my will. I HATE that this always happens to me).

Once back home I got the bananas chopped and set on a low heat in a Teflon-coated pot. After a while of stirring (with a wooden spoon) they started to get mushy.

Soon after, I added preserving sugar and stirred the mixture until all the sugar was dissolved.
Now it started to resemble the sick I was talking about above.

Once I brought the mixture to the boil, I lowered the heat and let it simmer for a while.
Them I poured it into my jar and let it cool down for a few hours. Afterwards the lid was closed and the jam stored in the fridge - yum!

But as I said Mr P was not so hot on the banana taste, so I promised him I would make him some strawberry jam....but then we came across these when we were on a hike last week:

We were both so excited, picking blackberries along the country roads we walked along. I hadn't done that since I was a kid and couldn't wait to get home so I could turn them into jam.

At least they don't look like sick.
And the blackberry jam certainly tickles Mr P's fancy :)


Saturday 17 September 2011

Bored (dot) com

'Memba when I talked about the Scraplift challenges on the Paper Passion Forum, HERE?

I totally forgot to share the layout I created for the August Lift, which incidentally made use of the Quirky Lite Kit I have been talking about HERE.

** click on image to enlarge/sharpen view **
** Papers: Pebbles Inc, American Crafts ** Stencils: Crafters Workshop, Punchinella ** Mists: Cosmic Shimmer ** Stickers: American Crafts Thickers ** Chipboard cloud: Love Elsie for KI Memories ** Other: Alpha beads, Circle punch, Pearls **

I never used to like Pebbles Inc papers but since they teamed up with American Crafts I think they have come up with fab designs.

Now, I can wait for my next Quirky Kit which is packed with Studio Calico papers - my new fave!


Thursday 15 September 2011

Papermaze DT - September PT III


Below is a fun tutorial which I created for the Papermaze Blog this month.

Today I would like to show you, how you can create you own custom made flowers/blossoms from patterned paper.

I don't know about you but I always find that I very rarely seem to have the perfect colour fit embellishments for my projects at hand. That's where your handmade embellishments come into place - they are fun to create and leave you with a sense of achievement, when you look at the finished project and think "I made that flower!!!"

First gather a few supplies in addition to your papers:
Flower shaped punch or dies
Ink pad (optional)
Mists (optional)
Pearlbrad or bling (optional)
Embossing tool or burnishing tool (optional)

For this tutorial I have chosen to make use of the Cuttlebug Flowers die set, which is perfect for layering you own blossoms.

My chosen papers are




Cut out as many flower shapes as you wish (I always like to create a few "spare" blossom for later use) and lay them out in front of you.


If you like, you can spray them now with some mists, or enhance their edges by running an ink pad along. Alternatively, just leave them as they are.


I then like to carefully roll the end of my embossing/burnishing tool in circular motion along the middle of each flower. If you don't do it too hard, you will soften the middle of the paper and the edges should slowly raise up by themselves.


Or you can just carefully crunch the flower upwards and unfold it a little afterwards.


Once you have crumpled/burnished all your layers, adhere them on top of each other like so (you only need a small amount of glue in the middle section).



If you want you can add either a piece of bling, a pearl, a brad or a button in the middle and your blossom is ready.

See, really easy and the results are definitely worth it. Besides, it is a good way to make use of any scrap paper that you have lying around.