Heavenly Crafts

I have obviously got the bug as regards wall hangers, because look what I made for The Hybrid Chick blog:

It is has a clear report cover above the background papers so I can write in each month's appointments as well as my to do list, and it is now hanging on my desk as a reminder of everything I have to do.  I am sure I will find this so useful, much better than umpteen different post it notes and scraps of paper with snippets of information on them!

It really was easy to do - an A4 piece of chipboard, a sheet of patterned paper and then I made the calendar holder from a template and the to do list is actually printed on the background paper.

Full details of how I made can be found at The Hybrid Chick, so why not pop along and take a look?  There are also some amazing projects by other Digichicks, and it has always been my "go to" website for hybrid ideas!  You are sure to find some inspiration there!

Happy Scrapping!

Well, when I visited our local craft shop a couple of weeks ago, I noticed she had some chipboard in stock.  Now never having used this (I usually end up using used cereal boxes as the base for the covers of albums, etc!), I thought I would give it a go.  So, armed with a sheet of chipboard I decided to make a small wall hanger.  Well, to be honest, I actually decided to make a large A4 size hanger (but I haven't sorted out the photos for that yet ;) ) and then made a further two small hangers using the left over chipboard.  Mind you  I would never have believed chipboard was so hard to cut (even though it is kind of obvious....!  ).  I ended up using my craft knife and struggled using that at first.

For the first hanger, I used a gorgeous mega kit from The Studio:

This was so quick and easy to make, I can see me making many more of these in the future.  It really is just a case of printing the paper (or cutting out paper from your stash), adhering it to the chipboard and then adding the embellishments.  I used a 50:50 mix of PVA glue and water to coat the chipboard and the underside of the paper, and then stuck the two together.

Here's a close up of the flower:



Truly scrumptious right?!!!

I then used a completely different kit from The Digichicks but can't show you that yet as the kit hasn't been released.  I'll be back over the weekend with photos of that along with one or two other things that I have been making :).  But right now, I have to go run a payroll and prepare two VAT returns.......I know, I lead such an exciting life, you have to wonder how I cope!

Happy Scrapping!

There are some awesome sales on Friday, and just look at what Nibbles Skribbles has on offer:

Now I don't know about you, but I love making my own calendars every year, so this is an ideal time to get some quick pages and dates, then all you have to do is add the photos and voila, one unique calendar which you can print and send as a Christmas gift.  I'm actually going to go one better this year, as I am seriously considering getting these printed   My printer just seems to eat ink so it must be cheaper to get someone else to print it for me plus it would save all that hassle missing around with my Bind It All trying to make sure everything is lined up perfectly!

But look at what is available:


Aren't they neat?  And even better, I actually made one of them using one of Manda's kits.  I'm not going to tell you which one, just see if you can guess ;).  You can get them in a bundle with the grids for each month, the images and wordart at The Studio:


Everything you need (apart from the photos ;) ) to make a unique calendar!  I know I am definitely going to get myself one of these and will try and get this done over the weekend!   Unfortunately I have a couple of VAT returns to do before the weekend, as well as several tax returns, so scrapping will have to wait for a few days as I need to get the work done so I can get paid:(.


But I will definitely be popping over to The Studio  on Friday as they will have some amazing deals......



I just love sales!!

Happy Scrapping!

Well, I am making an early start (for once!) on my 2013 calendars.  I give these as Christmas gifts, making an A4 size calendars for ladies, and a 4x6 desktop calendar for men.  So far, I have made the desktop calendars as I was able to use these calendar grids from Nibbles Skribbles:

These are really so easy to use.  They come as a png file and all you have to do is drag them onto your calendar page for the relevant month and resize as necessary - it took longer to sort out which photos to use than it did to create each page!  If you make your own calendars, then these are ideal.  You can find them at The Studio and the preview above is linked to the store.

This is what I ended up with (you'll have to excuse the poor quality of the photo as the lighting in my office is terrible.):




The cover page was just a photo with the title added, and you can see how the calendar is put together from the side shot.  I cut two pieces of card stock 4" by 8", scoring each piece at 6".  After binding using my Bind-it-All, the short ends were folded over and stuck together to form the base of the calendar so it would stand up firmly.

These are the individual pages - I've just used the jpegs here as I was feeling lazy and didn't want to photograph each page and then make the preview (in my defence, it has taken me nearly 7 hours to make this calendar!):  








I used Scriptina and Calibri fonts.

These calendar grids are so easy to use and it will definitely make my life easier when it comes to making the A4 calendars!  

Well, it's now 10:45 pm here, so I'm off to get a well deserved glass of red wine!  Happy scrapping!

I have completed my first project for The Studio Hybrid CT and here it is:

I used Nibbles Skribbles 2012 Calendar Templates which are so easy to use!

All I did was create a 6x4 portrait file and put a guideline half way down the page. I then used the calendar templates in the bottom half (resizing them slightly) , and inserted my photos in the top half. I didn't use any of the backgrounds, or anything else from the templates, just the dates and days.  I had to add the months myself, and the description for the photos.

The back cover was made from two pieces of card (A6 size) trimmed to 4 inches wide. I then scored each piece of card at 6 inches for the base. 

I used my Bind it All machine to bind it together, and stick the the bottom of the back cover together using foam pads.

Font used: Traveling Typewriter
Supplies used: 6x4 photo paper, card, binder wires


I plan on printing out several more of these for Christmas gifts as they are so easy to make - it just takes time to sort out the photos really.  So why not give it a go yourself?  You don't have to do anything fancy, just copy and paste with maybe some resizing!


I'm also planning on making a more detailed/fancier calendar using scrap kits.  Have you seen the calendars by Shabby Princess and The Shabby Girl?   Well i want to make some like that.  I reckon I may have just about enough time between now and Christmas to get them all done as it effectively means 13 different layouts (one for each month plus the cover page).


Let me know if you make one yourself - I'd love to see what you do ;).


Happy Scrapping!

Well, a new year and maybe a new year resolution to blog more frequently?  Who knows?!!! I just don't want to make any promises I can't keep ;).  Anyhow, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and that the New Year will hold all that you hope it does.

At the moment, I am right in the thick of accounts and tax returns as tax returns have to be filed by 31 January here in the UK.  As usual, this has meant I haven't been able to take much time off over Christmas but I really want to have time to spend in photoshop and get some designing done! I actually did manage to open photoshop yesterday to finish making calendars for my mum and eldest son's girlfriend.   I used the Shabby Princess' one page calendar:

She makes some amazing calendar kits and they are so easy to use.  The problem I find is actually choosing which photos to use!

I then used another template, this time from Shutter Sisters:


If you click here or on the calendar photo above, it should take you straight to the Shutter sisters' blog where you can find links to the calendar download.

I ended up changing the template to a 6 x 4 calendar, and this is what I came up with:

The cover photograph is of Ironbridge, Shropshire and the other photos have the place names on them..  All the photos were taken by me and are all either here in Shropshire, or elsewhere in the UK.  If you would like a copy of this, then feel free to download it here.  Please bear in mind it is only 6" x 4" and I don't know how well it would stand up to being resized to a larger size.

Now, due to work commitments, I don't know when I will next be able to blog (probably not until February unfortunately), so in the meantime,  Happy New Year and happy scrapping!