More Penguins & Presents Christmas Cards!

Hi all,

As promised last week, here's more of the Christmas cards I made using the 'Penguins & Presents' papers from StickerKitten.

I actually can't stop making with these papers... they've really helped get my crafty mojo back.

For this first card I used the pale bokeh effect paper (my favourite) as a background and layered up more paper and a tag.
I coloured some plain wooden pegs with my trusty silver Sharpie and added some silver thread around the sentiment (from a chipboard sticker sheet by Trimcraft). I also coloured some wood veneer (also from StickerKitten) and stuck them onto the card.

This one is a bit bigger, with more layered paper. I made a shaker frame for this, covered a plain Trimcraft frame and then making an acetate pocket filled with sequins. I then stuck bokeh effect paper behind this and stuck the whole thing to the card front. To finish I added some silver stars and a wooden penguin (also from StickerKitten). 

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

Steampunk Mixed Media Piece

Hello, crafty friends!

I have a mixed media piece to share with you today and it's something I wasn't sure of at first but I persevered and once I finished it I was quite pleased with what I achieved!

I've been wanting to make a piece like this for a while - I had a bag of MDF gears from Things To Alter just begging to be used!
Then I saw this video on the Finnabair Art Files channel on Youtube...  (link) and decided to loosely follow along with it. I'm not great at mixed media and I don't have many supplies but it seemed simple enough so I had a go.

You can find out how to make this following the video, but I'll explain the colours I used, etc.

 Once I had applied the (many layers of cheap) gesso (seriously, The Works gesso isn't great..), I used modelling paste to stencil gears. The stencil is by Scrapberry's. I added dylusions spray inks in Fresh Lime and Chopped Pesto, adding water and letting the inks run, until I was happy with the effect. Basically, just play around!

Once this was dry I used a brown watercolour pencil to outline the edges of the gears and then added some water. The darker edges brought more dimension to the gears.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Introducing Dovecraft 'Couture du Jour'!

Hi all,

I was very excited last week to receive my box full of new products from Trimcraft. I spent some time over the weekend coming up with a list of ideas for projects to make, and this one was the first and one of my favourites - a scrapbook layout, of course!

The picture was taken at a wedding a couple years ago and it is of the lovely ladies in my family. I am the short one. A side effect of being 4'11" is that I have tiny feet and it's impossible to find heels in size 2...!
I chose to use the picture as it went perfectly with the Couture du Jour collection.

You can find step by step instructions over on my Trimcraft Gallery (link)



And if you fancy a nosey what I got in my Design Team kit.... here's an unboxing video I made.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Penguins & Presents Christmas Cards!

Hi all,

Some Christmas cards to share today using the 'Penguins And Presents' papers from StickerKitten, which Sarah kindly sent me.

I absolutely love working with Sarah's papers, they're so bright and fun and the quality is so good. I'm sharing a couple today and then there's a couple more up next week. 

This first card uses layered paper with some festive buttons. I used some silver thread in the buttons and stuck some behind the sentiment too. I'm not sure where the thread is from (my parents bought me it and a gold one too when they were out somewhere) but it's one of my favourite things in my stash!

This one used more layered papers, but this time I fussy cut some little penguins from one of the paper sheets, and coloured in some of the wood veneer (also from StickerKitten) with Sharpies. Again I used silver thread behind my sentiment. 

Thanks for stopping by and stay tuned for more from this collection next week!

Emily xx

Advent Calendar Clock!

Hi all,

With December just around the corner, it's the right time to be thinking about Advent calendars.... but why not make your own?....


It all started when I received a pack of advent number stickers in my Trimcraft DT kit.
"What can I do with these?", I thought...
And I had been saving a 14" pizza base (Sainsburys started selling fresh pizza and the bases are great for crafts!)

So I made this.

The rings are die cut from cardboard and the patterned papers are from the Simply Creative 'Christmas Cheer' paper pad by Trimcraft.

There's a step by step guide on how to make it here.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

Sunny Selfie Layout

Hi all,

A new layout to share today using a selfie we took in Whitby outside St Mary's Church in early September when it was 30 degrees! Hard to imagine now isn't it.

Here's my layout. It's dull and cold outside so I really wanted to make a nice bright layout to cheer myself up.

I used a double sided sheet of Crate Paper 'Poolside' paper, cut diagonally down the middle, one side flipped over and attached back to the other side with washi tape (and sticky tape on the back for extra support). The washi tapes I chose from my stash to complement the colours of the ice creams (?) on the patterned paper.

I mounted the photo onto white cardstock and then onto this awesome metallic polka dot print vellum from My Mind's Eye. I used more on the bottom right corner.

The embellishments are all from the Pink Paislee 'Fancy Free' collection designed by Paige Evans.

I really enjoyed making this layout, I think I got too caught up in Christmassy things and autumn layouts I don't know how to finish and then forgot how to scrapbook! All better now. I love bright layouts! 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Deck The Halls!

Hello to my lovely followers....!

A few Christmas cards to share today. These all use the Simply Creative 'Deck The Halls' 6x6" paper pad by Trimcraft.

This one is a circular aperture surrounded by die cut and glittery stars. Simple but effective!

This one really encompasses the Nordic designs of the paper pad with a cosy, warm feel.

And finally something with a bit more sparkle.

For step by step instructions, head over to my Trimcraft gallery!

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

Crafty Girl Scrapbook Layout

Hi all,

A new layout to share today.....
I really wanted to use the Simple Stories 'Reset Girl' chipboard stickers on a layout...
And I did like(ish) this picture of me in the outfit Nathan bought me for my birthday....
So I made this with a little mixed media.

I started off with 2 papers from the Heidi Swapp September Skies paper pad, layered them and painted an area with gesso, then copper acrylic paint and finally stamped some stars once the paint was dry. The stamp in the top left is an old one by Kaisercraft and I love it...! Would like to do more stamping now I have bought myself a decent ink pad.

I used Reset Girl washi tape on the background and also along the bottom. Then I layered up some envelopes and doilies before adding my photo, stickers and some Cocoa Vanilla Studio sequins. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

Twist & Pop Christmas Card

Hi all,

I tried something new this week, using the Christmas paper download from Trimcraft which you can get for free HERE

Looks like a normal card right?

Wrong.

Some of my fellow teamies at Trimcraft spoke of a 'twist and pop' card.
I was intrigued, so I enquired how to make it....
I was directed to this video, which I followed to make the card.

Here's a picture of the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

More Christmas Cards!

Hi all,

Hope the xmas cards aren't getting too much... limiting mine to one blog post a week.

The ones I'm sharing today are made with leftover stash from last year. Mostly docrafts collections and I made a couple cards to try out different techniques - (relatively) CAS and a mixed media one.

Thanks for stopping by!
Emily xx

More Than Words Challenge November 2016

Hi all

Here's my entry for the November More Than Words challenge and you can find out more and enter HERE

I used the November Like For Ever kit for this layout. I'm not currently a subscriber but I saw the kit on instagram and it looked awesome so I ordered it and I love it!

I also used watercolour on this layout and I love the effect it created.

I also made a lil' process video for it. I've had scrapper's block for a while and it's only today that my mojo has really come back so I was excited to make this.

Here is the challenge the folks at More Than Words set:

I chose the photo because it's SPECIAL. We hardly see Sam any more so when we do get to see them it has become tradition to take lots of selfies. I love our friendship because even though we cannot be together often, when we see them it's like we have never been apart.

I also chose the picture because of Sam's BLUE hair. (It's also incredibly soft...). I'm not sure about 'old', but the camera was BORROWED from Nathan, it's his new one and he let me take it around the convention all day to try it out. The screen folds out and flips over so it's perfect for selfies! Something NEW is the supplies I used, from the Pink Paislee Moonstruck collection which is my favourite ever scrapbook collection to date. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

PS excuse my terrible handwriting...

Life In A Snapshot Sketch Challenge - November

Hi all,

A new layout to share today for the Life In A Snapshot sketch challenge. You can find out more and enter here 

The backing paper is Mr Smith's Workshop by docrafts (Probably should have chosen something less busy!) covered with various washi tapes and the other papers and embellishments are from the BoBunny Enchanted Harvest 6x6" paper pad that I got last year and never used as much as I'd've liked.

Here's the sketch for this month.

You could use four embellishments if you're making a card or ATC, or if it's a layout you could use four individual pictures or do what I did and cut up one picture into four bits.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll join in with us!

Emily xx

The Christmas Trapeze!

Hi all,

Some Christmas cards to share today.
These two are made using a trapeze fold and you can find out how to do it HERE.

Both also use the Simply Creative 'Deck The Halls' 6x6" paper pad by Trimcraft.

If you want to find out more about how I made these then head over to my Trimcraft gallery.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx