M&M World

I made this double layout ages ago, but I haven't blogged it until now.  The reason it may look a bit odd is because I have knitted two photos together and the join is quite visible.

I was at M&M World with Crafty Frank ages ago and I totally forgot that I had these pictures, so I had already made another LO on this topic.  I decided I would use up some Basic Grey scraps I had lying around, and try out some new cutting patterns I bought for my robo (Silhouette).

My favourite photo on here is the periodic table of M&M colours in the bottom right.  I hope you can enlarge this picture and have a good look!

Wish notebook

One of the more fun things I enjoy with craft is making things I can use every day.  I love making cards or scrapbook pages, but things like covering cheap notebooks or making my own desk sets means that I can keep something more permanent to look at and enjoy.

These A6 notebooks are from Tesco and they cost 35 pence.  I did my crafty thing with a piece of card and attached it to the notebook.  Simples!!  

I made this one alongside my Crafty Frank.  Hers is fab too, it has a tatoo-ey look to it and it's quite cool!  We use these books to record our card readings.  Very fun!

Quick party bags

A perennial favourite, I tend to make party bags for the kids out of C5 envelopes.  This year was no exception.  

Cameron had a bowling birthday party, and although I chose to use clip-art and fonts from the printer instead of stamping, I have kept to my normal envelope-bags.

I learned the envelope bag trick from a Stampin Up demonstrator about ten or so years ago.  I've been using it since the kids started having birthday parties!  The basic envelope-to-bag technique goes like this:

Seal the envelope.

Score down the two long sides and across one short side, all scores the same distance from the edge of the envelope.  You can vary this measurement all you like as long as it's the same on all three sides.  

Cut the other short side off, leaving an open top.

Reinforce scores by folding in both directions crisply.  It also helps to score a diagonal line connecting the intersection of the score lines and the corner of the envelope.

Once these steps are done, you just pop it out into a bag shape, fold the corners under and glue them down on the bottom of the  bag, and decide if you want to fold over the top and staple it or add ribbon handles, in which case it helps to double up the top margin of the bag and then punch holes.

If you're decorating the bag, especially if you're stamping, you'll want to do that while the envelope is still flat.  Score it first, then decorate, then move on to the next steps.

What I did was use two Distress Stains to add sketchy stripes to the bottom of the bag,  all around the front, back  and sides.   A lot of  this got covered up, so it doesn't have to be perfect.  I added the main motif which I ran off on the printer, using the same font and graphic as his invitations.  I scribbled  around the edge of the motif with one of the distress stains and used the other to colour in the flap where I would fold over the bag.  After I filled the bags, I folded the coloured tops over and stapled once in the middle.

Envelopes like these are 25 for a pound, but you could go for higher quality if you wanted them to be a bit more posh, like for a wedding or baby shower.  In the past, I have used brown envelopes and stuck a white punched border on the top flap for contrast.  The possibilities are endless!

Crafting in the Car!

Yes.  You are looking over the steering wheel at my impromptu craft area in the school car park.  Cameron's tenth birthday was coming up and I decided to christen some of my new Stampin Up goodies by making some cardstock wraps for some Oreo snack-packs.  He passed them out on his birthday.

I park in the school car park, bring something to do and wait for Victoria to get out of cheerleading.  There's no point going home for the sake of an hour, so if it can be done in the car, it will be done on Tuesday afternoon (until the weather is better for the park).  Cameron helped me out with this project.  He chose the cardstock and cut it into the right size strips.  This made quite a lovely dent in my cardstock stash!

Here's the end result:  A box full of wrapped Oreos for his classmates.  He was so excited to give them out!

Next step-- invites and party bags.

Another Mirror Frame, Blazing New Trails!

Hmm.... it didn't photograph too well... but here it is!

On Friday night, I watched Karen Ellis on Ustream as I usually do.  She took a bit of MDF and worked her magic on it and it was very cool. :)  She thickly applied structure gel to the wood through a stencil, applied colour to it in her special arty way when the gel dried... then painted a coat of white on and proceeded to remove the white from areas that were raised.  The result was fantastic.  A lot more fantastic, I must say, than what you are seeing here.

I used a 6x6 stencil, repositioned repeatedly to get the entire frame covered,  and I think the pattern is way too intricate to be effective, but lesson learned. :)  I still really like the look of it.  I might dry-brush a bit to try and catch the design a bit more, but I'm going to leave it a while and think about it. :)

One Photo, Four Pages.

I found this photo of Victoria and her cousin doing this thing where they slap their cheeks and whisper,  "Sparkles!"  I have no idea what it's from but it's hilarious and I knew there were many in my family who would like a copy of this photo.  I had four printed up and I decided to set myself the challenge of making four different scrapbook pages with them.  Here's what happened:

The above layout was my first effort.  I decided to use a technique from Shimelle's Pretty Paper Party, the stacked paper mats idea.  I alternated patterned paper with solid cardstock, making sure I saved little offcuts for the cluster of ribbons in the top corner.  I decided also to break out my Sew Easy tool from We R Memory Keepers and put a row or two of stitched asterisks on the page, and of course, add the.... Sparkles!  I stamped a journaling block and co-ordinating flourish by Bo Bunny and added Sparkles! to those too.  I die-cut a title from Tim Holtz Vintage Market Sizzlits.  This one's for me.   I love it too much to let it go!

Similar layout and same background paper, but that's where the similarity ends.  The stitching is scallops and zig-zags, with a stitched title to boot.  It didn't show up so well, so I outlined it with black pen.  More Bo Bunny stamping in the corners and I used strips of stick-on gems for the actual Sparkles!  This one is the most boy-friendly one I made, so it's going to my brother.

I put away the Sew Easy because after all the stitching I had done in the other two, I thought it was time for a change.  I also thought it was time to change the positioning of the photo and used another Shimelle idea (strip of cardstock stripes) to make it more interesting.  I stamped with another Bo Bunny set to add interest to some of the cardstock, doodled the title and vertical line of scallops, added the info and an entire margin full of Sparkles!  This one's going to the girl on the left.  I hope she likes it!!

And finally one for Mom!  She loves this dark peacock blue colour, so I thought I'd use it as the background along with a not-quite-whole piece of Basic Grey patterned paper that tones with it. I used a few off-cuts from  the previous page to create clusters of rectangles above and below the photo.  I followed the curves  of the hand-torn paper to place the die-cut title and the Sparkles!

Now, my only obstacle is to actually get around to sending them out.  Oh dear.... people who know me will know just how *wonderful* I am at posting things.  :)

Mom and Michele

The weekend is upon us, and I thought I would share what I was up to last weekend at the Cardinal Colours weekend crop.

A month or two ago, I was messing around with paint, stencils and chipboard and made a scrapbook page that was ready to go bar a photo and title.  I stashed it in one of my crop boxes and I found it when I unpacked at the crop.  I had just done a print run of photos and one of them just looked great with the page, so on it went!

And here's one of those funky close-up thingies.