I have had fun playing with the latest collab from The Digichick Designers, Fun in the Sun:
Just a quick post to let you know I have actually been busy crafting (I should really have been working though ;) ), and have just finished an album made using the video tutorials from Angelwings 14100.
I was pleased with how it turned out. It was made using a digital kit, Laughter is the Best Medicine by Kimeric Kreations, which you can find at The Digichick store:
Full details of the completed album along with links to the video instructions can be found on the hybrid chick blog here.
Well, I'm off for a day's bookkeeping at a client's now, so hope you can get some time to craft today!
Life seems to have been really hectic around here recently with one thing and another. I'm now taking my Dad to hospital once a fortnight for chemotherapy as he has cancer - he found out just before Christmas so that was a present he didn't want to receive :(! He now has a PICC line in his arm and has the drugs intravenously at the hospital and is then sent home with a pump attached containing more drugs which take 48 hours to get through the PICC line. There is then another trip to the hospital to get the pump removed, which I do if it is a weekday (my brother is doing the weekend trips).
He seems to be doing really well though, and apart from being very tired, has had no side effects to mention, which is a real blessing. Mind you, there are people praying for him in my church and I have a friend in the USA who has her church praying for him too so you can take your pick as to which you think it is - the power of prayer, the right dosage of chemo, his age and fitness, or whatever. I know what I think and I thank God he is doing ok.
Apart from that, life goes on here pretty much as usual - I'm overworked, underpaid, totally unappreciated, lol!! I really don't know where the time goes and 24 hours in each day is nowhere near long enough to get everything done ;). I am having great difficulty getting any decent crafting time in...sigh!!!
Still, look see what I found the other day:
Collage Craft by Polka Dot Pixels - isn't it just scrumptious? Now this is a kit that definitely calls for being turned into an album and it just so happens I was able to sneak a little bit of time here and there to make this:
This is a quick look at the inside pages:
Well, it is the May Day bank holiday here this weekend and I have a craft fair to make samples for, a walk planned with my son (unless he can wriggle out of it somehow ;)!), our eldest son is coming home for a day and I am taking part in a line dance demonstration, so with bookkeeping at a client's all day tomorrow and a very exciting trip to the cancer centre at the hospital on Friday, I reckon I am pushed for time yet again!
Well, whatever you are doing this weekend, I hope you have fun and enjoy the bank holiday - apparently, the weather forecast is for good weather (unbelievable I know - sunshine in the UK on a bank holiday is practically unheard of. We usually get rain, buckets of it!).
Hope you can find time for scrapping, whatever else you are doing!
This is just a flying visit as I am in the middle of tax return filing season and don't have much free time at all. However, I thought I would just pop in to show you what I have been working on! I've been using a kit that is slightly out of my comfort zone - I mean, you are looking now at someone who only goes to the hairdressers twice a year for a perm and the thought of journalling about that really does not inspire me! Still, there were some lovely papers in the kit and some neat elements. But really, you need to see what I worked with, don't you?!!!
It's a kit from Nibbles Skribbles and I just love the colours in it and even though I really like the journalling tags, I didn't actually use them this time around, preferring instead to leave space for more photos in this album. Mind you, I can see some of these being really useful as the front of birthday cards and so on, so I know I will get more use out of this kit ;)!
Since it is a kit with a hairdressing theme, it just shows how versatile it is and that you don't have to do anything about hairdressing to make full use of it!
The above photos show the front and back covers. I added one of the kit clusters to the front cover, although I did have to chop off the splatter behind the cluster - I know I'm not the best fussy cutter in the world, but even the best would have had trouble cutting out a paint splatter!
These are some of the inside pages:
and here are some more:
Well, November was really hectic (but hey, when is my life not hectic?!!!) and the bast part, apart obviously from seeing my son and his girlfriend when they came over to celebrate his birthday (awe, my baby is 27!!!!), was becoming a member of the hybrid team at The Digichick. I've loved their site for absolutely ages and was over the moon to become a team member - it is, literally, a dream come true ;). My son is well impressed (apart from my daughter and mum (she makes all her own cards too), he is the only other member of the family who takes an interest in my crafting) and I haven't even bothered telling hubbie about being on the hybrid team as he will only go on about how busy I am and how come I think I can do this and work and blah, blah, blah, blah!
Anyhow, for my first project (and tutorial!!!) I decided to make a Christmas album/planner. Yes, I am totally disorganised, and yes, I haven't done anything for Christmas yet (other than put up the mini tree in my office!) but I intend to get organised and this planner is a start..... Anyhow, if you are anything at all like me, maybe you should have a go at making one of these too?
I'm not going to go into great detail here about what, where, who and how I made it as you will be able to find it all on The Hybrid Chick blog from tomorrow (Monday). However, will show you what I used. Firstly, this is the kit I worked with:
Pretty neat for a Christmas album, eh, and perfect for a planner/organiser! I just printed off what I needed onto cardstock and paper, added double sided tape and glitter glue, and et voila, one Christmas album!!! Well, it did take a little bit longer than that to make, although to be honest, it actually took even longer to take the photos and write and post the tutorial than it did to make the album, tags and cards!
And here are the inside pages:
You will see I also made some Christmas cards and tags to go with the album. The tags were made using the kit and a selection of templates from Michelle Batton:
These are so useful and you can do so many different things with them. I reckon they would make brilliant card backgrounds once printed out - all you would have to do is add embellishments. IO just used them for journaling here, and this is what I ended up with:
I reckon I'll be able to use these for all the lists I need to make for Christmas....presents, stocking fillers, shopping list, work to do before the big day...... Can you tell I am a list kind of person?
The cards are A6 size so can fit into the album (which is A5 size) so if I am out and about, I can whip out a card for someone in no time at all ;). The cards were made with these brilliant digital stamps:
I love that music and swirls stamp and can see me using that on birthday cards in the future ;). these are the cards I made with them:
Mind you, I did add some Christmas Ornaments made with the Stampin' Up! Ornament Keepsakes bundle and the purple-y paper is from Stampin' Up! too.
Like I said earlier, if you want the full details of how to make this album, take a wander over to the Hybrid chick blog tomorrow. My album is quite plain, I didn't add any embellishments, but I am really pleased with how it turned out. Mind you, next year, I think I will make an earlier start on an album so I can dress it up somewhat!
Happy scrapping!
I've been busy with craft fairs again and seriously need more hours in each day to get some Christmas cards made! Why is it that time just drags when I'm preparing accounts yet flies away when I start crafting?!!! Hubbie is forever coming into my office to see what I am up to and it is only then that I realise several hours have passed since the "I won't be long" comment I made to him when he asked me what time I would finish..... Seriously, someone needs to put him in a time warp or something for me so that as soon as I say a time, he goes into the time warp or time capsule or something so that he only comes out when I've finished yet thinks only 5 minutes or half an hour has passed! That way, I wouldn't get into trouble for saying I'll only be ten minutes and then taking two hours to finish up.......
Anyhow,this is the latest project I have been in trouble with for not time keeping properly:
Please excuse the poor quality of the photos. I reckon I must definitely need new glasses as they most certainly looked like they were on focus when I took the photos!
This is a one page album made using a single sheet of kraft cardstock and this amazing kit from Digilicious Designs:
Isn't it gorgeous? I love those colours and that parrot is so cute! Even better, it is currently on sale at only $9 for the whole bundle - a real bargain ;).
I matted the album with kit papers and, of course, had to use my distress inks too...I don't know how you feel about Kraft card stock but to me it just seems to cry out for a bit of distressing. I don't think I could use it without getting some ink on it! The ribbon was added before I adhered the paper to the front and back cover - I have learnt from experience to think first, then stick, as I have been known to leave the ribbon until I've almost finished an album and then have problems trying to cover up the fact that I should have placed the ribbon under the paper, not on top!
Anyhow, this is the inside of the album:
As you can see, I made pockets for all the pages except the first one (but there were also pockets between the album pages due to the way I cut and folded the card stock) and then created some tags in Photoshop (there were none in the bundle). I made the label using my ever faithful Stampin' Up! round tag punch (unfortunately, this is now retired :( ) and rounded the corners. I must confess, I did have to trim each tag slightly due to me being somewhat overenthusiastic with the glue when sticking the edges of the pockets down but I take the view that this is a prototype album and therefore I definitely have room for manoeuvre when it comes to making mistakes!
Here's a close up of the tags:
The clock looks really effect (imho) on the tags and I was so pleased with how that brad turned out (on the tag second from the left at the top). It is actually just cut out and stuck to the tag using 3D foam pads but it looks so realistic in the photograph and oh dear, I've just noticed from the above photo that I've managed to leave a bit from the top of a 3D foam pad underneath the parrot...you just can't get the staff, can you?!!!
Let me know what you think and please, have a go yourself at this as the one page album is really quick (well.....that would be quick in my idea of time, and you only need to ask hubbie how inaccurate that can be ;) ). Well, I'm off to finalise a set of accounts now and with a bit of luck I'll be able to get some more crafting in later on.
Happy Scrapping!
So, as I mentioned in my last post, I am now on the creative team for Nibbles Skribbles (woohoo!) and the first kit I chose to work with was a mini:
As I mentioned in my last post, I was going to use an empty coffee tin for this but decided to use that old standby, a toilet roll holder. Very exotic! I cu the base of the top hat from cardstock and then adhered this to the roll using the printed paper. I used some lace form my stash to decorate it, and made some flowers using a die to arrive at this:
And this is the other side:
I wasn't quite sure what to do about the top, so I ended up using part of the toilet roll trimmed with paper and ribbon. I then added a small mini album made using two of the Stampin' Up! Christmas Ornament dies. I've been longing to use these and this is the first chance I have had! So please excuse the blurry photos and take a peek inside the top hat First the top:
The album is in the shape of a Christmas Ornament and fits nicely inside the hat:
For a first attempt, it's not bad but I know I can see all the flaws and mistakes here, especially where the cutting out isn't quite perfect. I can also see how I could have done the top of the hat differently, especially after my husband very kindly told me what he would have done....after I had finished it!
Anyhow, it just shows that you can do just about anything with a digital kit if you put your mind to it, so why not give hybrid a try yourself? If you do, I would love to see what you make so feel free to post a link here,
Happy Scrapping!
Well, here is yet another album, this time made from just one sheet of cardstock. I used this kit:
Isn't it gorgeous? I love the vintage feel of this kit and that is such an adorable bicycle! It's a collaboration between Aimee Harrison Design Studios, Digilicious Designs and Snips & Snails Designs and they have done such a good job!
Anyhow, I started with the sheet of kraft cardstock which I folded in half length ways and then again width ways. I then folded each half in again to make the four pages. Each page was matted with papers printed from the kit, and then decorated using kit elements:
I added the organza ribbon to fasten the album together, and decorated the album using kit elements. The flowers were taken straight from the kit, I just printed out two or three and cut each out individually before arranging. the buttons/brads are also form the kit. I just resized them to fit my 3/4" circle punch to save having any wobbly edges when hand cutting!
The tags were printed to fit the album and then I rounded the corners and added a tag at the top of each one using the Stampin' Up! round tab punch.
I've been busy making stuff for craft fairs recently and will try and get photos of those posted. I've made post it note holders, small pencil boxes, seed packet wraps, and calendars (trying to get a start on stocking fillers for Christmas ;) ) and have plans for lots more. The trouble is, that whilst there is so much you can make and so many free tutorials out there, the one limiting factor I have is time. There just aren't enough hours in the day or enough days in the week, so if you have any to spare, feel free to pass them along!
Then whilst I managed to take a weekend off to take my daughter back to Plymouth where she is at University, I actually managed to forget to take my camera. I remembered half way down the M5 but how I managed to leave my camera behind is beyond me because it's like forgetting to take my right hand with me! I always have either a camera or a laptop with me when I am out and about! It must be old age setting in so I dread to think what I will be like in a couple of years!
Finally, some news! I am really excited as I am now a member of Nibbles Skribbles Creative Team and I am really looking forward to creating some hybrid items for her. I have my first kit downloaded, I just need to print out the papers and so on as I have an idea for something I haven't made before. I'll be altering a coffee tin, so watch this space to see what I come up with!
Happy scrapping!
Well, this is one of the projects I had every intention of completing whilst we were on holiday but without my scoring tool, I was completely lost! So, this weekend was an ideal time to catch up and get this finished, so after a couple of evenings work, here it is.
I was lucky enough to have the chance to work with the July Project 365 kit form Digilicious Designs and it is truly scrumptious:
The polka dot paper is gorgeous, and the tags are just perfect. I really love this kit. Mind you, I've said that about the earlier six months' worth too ;)!
Anyhow, this is what I came up with:
I made the cover from A4 cardstock and covered it with paper on the front but inside, I used kit papers printed on card for added strength as the cardstock was rather flimsy for a cover. The scalloped edged paper was made using a Stampin' Up! punch and the lace was bought whilst on holiday in Wales. I used two pieces of lace and placed them back to back so the edges overlapped to form a solid line.
It looks rather effective, doesn't it?
I finished the cover off with washi tape at the top and bottom. I think this may be Tim Holtz tape but can't be sure - I really need to start keeping a proper record of exactly what is in my stash so I don't end up buying the same thing twice, which I have done before (and I know I am not the only one who does this!!!). I nearly bought a Stampin' Up! die that I already have last week - now that would have been an expensive mistake ;).
The inside pages were cardstock covered with the printed kit papers and embellished using elements from the kit:
These Project 365 kits are really just made for making albums. They are gorgeous and the great thing with them being digital, is you can print them out to any size you want so can make a large(ish) album like this one or a small one using wages envelopes for instance. I just love the adaptability of digital kits!
Well, the next album I make I am going to try and remember to take photos in the process as I am keen for as many people as possible to try these out!
Well, a glass of red wine is calling out my name now, so I am off to answer the call. And before you ask, I do only have the one glass (and no, it is not a pint glass ;) ).
Happy Scrapping!
I can't believe it is over two weeks since I last posted! The time has flown by and yet again work has been busy, but this time, I also managed to fit some crafting time in, including helping at the Stampin' Up! demonstrator table at the Wrexham Artstamps Fair. That was totally exhausting but such fun!
Since then I have been desperately trying to get this album finished. I was using one of Christine's gorgeous Project 365 kits, this time the June one:
Isn't it gorgeous? Mind you, I say that about every month's Project 365 kit as I love each and every one of them ;)!
Well, this time (just for a change) I decided to make an album and this is what I ended up with:
The above is the front and back covers, the first two inside pages ad some close ups of some of the elements in the album. Just look at that bird - there is such depth to it, even though it is just printed on cardstock and cut out so is completely flat.
The flowers on the front cover were made using Woodware punches - I have 3 flower punches (the same basic shape) in different sizes so they were ideal for this.
And the above photos are of the remaining inside pages. I used the notecards from the kit as journalling cards and then printed and cut out the elements to add to each page. The ribbons, eyelets and baker's twine are from my stash and the album is made from kraft cardstock with the papers matted and the edges distressed for effect. the whole idea for the album came from Kathy Orta at Paper Phenomenom. That girl is sooo good! this album was adapted from the Mini Album Canvas Art, although obviously, I only made the album (resized to fit the cardstock I had) and missed the canvas.
Oh, and the curled flowers in the top right of the above photo? I printed paper in a circle shape (using Photoshop) onto plain white cardstock. I then cut out the circle and cut it inside on ever decreasing circles so I ended up with one long circular piece of cardstock which I then curled up to make the flower.
Not bad, eh (and modest too as always!!!)?!!!
I'm actually finding it easier to make these now so obviously, all the practice has paid off! Plus I have my first commission!!!! My daughter's boyfriend has requested one for his mum and is actually going to pay me too! Woohoo! Only trouble is, I need to find the time to make it now!
Well, that's all from me for now. I need to crack on with work and also have a kit form Aimee Harrison that I need to get started. I'm thinking of making cards and printing them out so no cutting and glueing this time around! I honestly don't know how I will manage it....I'm sure to end up adding ribbon at the very least!
Happy scrapping!
I am ashamed to say that I have had this album finished and on my desk for over a week now, but just haven't found time to post all the photos and, wait for it, this is a first for me, as I have a video too! Not, however, a video tutorial (I have those in the pipeline!) but just showing you the album in all its glory (well, I was pleased with it at any rate ;) ).
And exactly what, I hear you ask, is this album then? Well here it is:
Isn't it gorgeous?!!! I just love this, and I think my daughter has her eye on it too as the first thing she said when she saw it was that it was in all her favourite colours....if that wasn't a hint, I don't know what is!
Surprisingly enough, this was actually made using a male oriented kit, One in a Million which is a collaboration from Aimee Harrison Design Studios and Snickerdoodle Designs and, what is even better, is that it is the bundle is special offer right now too!
My eldest reckons I have trouble making male cards, etc. and judging by all the papers I selected from this kit, I reckon he is right! I have a tendency to want to add flowers and butterflies to absolutely everything....
Anyhow, I thought I would show you how this was made and then you can all have a go and let me see what you come up with! I got the idea from Susan Lui who part of the team at Graphic 45 (don't you love their papers and kits too?!!!). Whilst she has a tutorial on her blog, this is my version.
Firstly, you need to sheets of heavy weight cardstock 6" by 6". I actually used an empty Cornflake box for mine. Put double sided tape or glue one side like so:
Then stick a sheet of 7" by 7" paper to these. I used one of the papers from the kit printed on A4 copy paper and cut to size. If you cut the corners of the paper, you will find you can stick it down without adding too much bulk at each corner. It also helps if you bend the paper round the bottom of the cardstock to help get a cleaner, crisper edge:
This photo really shows up the Cornflakes box nicely, doesn't it ;)?!!!
I then placed both covers wrong side up about one inch apart and stuck ribbon all the way round:
I actually went overboard and covered the reverse side too, although I needn't have bothered as almost the whole of the inside cover ends up being covered by the inside pages. You can see above where I matched up some of the paper, but it doesn't show on the finished album. Of course, if I wasn't bothered about my ink cartridge running out (it ran out the next day!) I wouldn't have been scrimping and saving on the printing and would have printed a second sheet to so there were no gaps....but then if I had read Susan's instructions all the way through properly first, I would have known there was no need to cover the inside, sigh!
So then the next thing to make was the pages for the inside. For this, I used two sheets of A4 cream cardstock cut down to 5 3/4" width. Susan cut hers to 5 3/4" by 11 3/4" but A4 card is actually just a fraction smaller at 11.7". I reckoned the 0.05" difference wouldn't matter! the card stock was then scored at 5 3/4" and then at 1" intervals just on one side from there:
Then using sticky tape (I used the red stuff as it is stronger than ordinary double sided tape but you could use hot glue, PVA or any other strong glue) stick the two sheets of cardstock together with the creased sides in the middle:
You can see it is beginning to take shape already as the folds are where the inside pages will be stuck.
Then add more sticky tape like so:
Stick the front and back covers to these inner pages, making sure you get the covers the right way round (if you are using paper with the pattern in a particular direction, you don't want the back cover to be going the opposite way from the front ;) ). This is what you should end up with:
You might need to hold the covers and spine carefully as the middle part of the spine has a habit of expanding out when you least expect it ;). Then it really is a case of just decorating the album as you see fit. You need to stick or glue the bottom parts of the pages together, but you can then use them as wallets to hold tags, photos, journaling cards, etc.
You will see I added another piece of cardstock (printed using a paper from the kit) to cover the spine of the album.
This is my finished album:
You can also cut a piece of cardstock 2" by 6", fold this in half and use it to go around the bottom of the page instead of using glue. That way, you can also use this as a tag holder - the bottom two photos above just above shows you what I mean.
And, just in case you haven't been bored enough already, here's a video with my dulcet tones showing you the pages in more detail. Please excuse all the umm'ing and err'ing. This is my first video and I was nervous! I also didn't appreciate just how difficult it was to keep things within camera range even after I spent what seemed like hours trying to place my tripod and camera in the right place so I didn't end up bumping into them whilst filming. Oh well, guess things can only get better with the next video ;)!
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