Journal for Jamie

Jamie and Seigrid and getting married in September.  When they announced their engagement they had a photo shoot done resulting in some awesome photos, so here is the 1st of the many creations I am planning using these photos.

This journal cover was made primarily as an entry for the Prima DT call, using lots of their goodies.  I've used all sorts of other products in my stash along with Dusty Attic chipboard, and wouldn't you believe it the colours match this months Inspiration Board perfectly, so I am also sharing this on the Dusty Attic challenge.  Here is their Inspiration Board:

 

After priming the covers with a generous coat of gesso I attached some die cuts and modelling paste thru some stencils, then the fun began.  I got out all my embellishments and started attaching charms, buttons, flowers, laces, die cuts, seed beads & chipboard.  The die cut heart around the photo added more texture once I'd embossed it, it also sits up off the surface for ease of photo placement.

Everything was then given another generous coat of gesso, then when dry various shades of greens & blues were painted over, under and in the embellishments until I was happy with the finish.  I then highlighted areas with gold rub-n-buff.

Enjoy these closeups.



 

Dusty Attic products used on this journal are DA 232 Jumbo Cogs and DA 1074H Love This.

 

 

Valentines Day cards

Here we are in February already, gee where did January go??
February of course brings us Valentines Day, and what a great excuse to get all soppy for a change.  For my DT project I've made a small selection of cards using lots of different bits of chipboard & felt from Imagine if . .  .

 

3 very different cards using lots of different techniques and materials.  I've used Kaisercraft & BoBunny papers, bakers twine, lace, string, paper doily.  These have been altered by embossing, painting, stamping, glossy accents, stickles and texture paste.

 

Enjoy these individual photos:

 

Imagine if products used:  set of hearts

                                           open hearts

                                           chicken wire

                                          ' Love your smile'

                                           felt leaves

 

I hope these give you a bit of inspiration, check out what the other DT ladies have to show you this week, perhaps some more valentines day treats or perhaps some summer fun to share.



'Something to Brag About' mini

Time to get back into some serious crafting now after all these weeks off, mind you with xmas and work commitments there's been no time to even think of such pleasures anyhow.
Todays project is something I've been working on for sometime (on & off) and is still unfinished, with more embellishments, the closure and the all important photos and journaling to be completed. 

This is my 1st DT project for 2015 and is FULL of awesome Imagine if . . chipboard, which is so versatile on all your projects.  We are also running a wee competition for you all to be in with a chance to win your own chipboard, all you need to do is leave a comment here, and we would love it if you visit and LIKE the facebook page

 

This mini is a project I purchased from Kathryn Krieger and you can get a getter look at it on her You Tube video.  The cost was minimal and so worth it I think.  Throughout I've used Kaisercraft "Off the Wall", "Garage Days" and "Take Note" papers, on black cardstock.

 

These are the pages that I've finished embellishing so far, with many more to do.  There is a total of 12 pages, each being a pocket for a folding tag, so HEAPS of places for the memorable photos and journaling to go.

 

 

These are the next pages to be finished, then the all important task of adding photos.  This album is for my son to keep together all the photos of the many cars he has had.

 

Imagine if products used are: houses in a row, large cog set , small cog set , corner flourishes, steampunk scissors, arrows with words , quotes sheets , vehicle set , filmstrip, chicken wire , arrows with words 2 , key set , flourish  , circle frame .

 

Lots of exciting products used here.  Remember to leave a comment here and also to visit all the other DT ladies to have a chance to win on their sites as well.  This is the wee prize up for grabs, and who doesn't have a need for good words for those projects.  Good luck to you all.

 

 



Twelve Days of Christmas

Wow who would have thought, here we are with the last Imagine if . .  blog hop for the year, and of course its our last chance to show off all the awesome Xmas goodies Jo has designed for us all.  This time we are showing off either a chipboard book or a MDF box, all beautifully xmas themed.  Not only are we sharing our creations with you we are running a wee competition for you all to WIN xmas goodies for yourself . . . but more about that later.

Time has been very much against me this week, so luckily the paper collection I've used in this book has made my life A LOT easier.

 

The G45 'The Twelve Days of Christmas' collection has been used throughout.  I adore this collection which I bought last xmas with the idea of making xmas decorations for this year . . . no time for that option sadly.  To accommodate the 3 double page spreads I actually removed one of the chipboard pages from the book, then created a pocket for the tags to slip into.

 

G45 has cleverly captured the spirit of this 'story line' well here with the design work on these pages, they have been ideal to create my tags with.

 

On the reverse side of the tags are the lyrics of some of my favourite 'non-traditional' xmas carols.  Sadly my printer 'ate' one of the songs, and is still presently jammed with paper, I think due to this damp humid weather we are experiencing at the moment.

 

Lots of Imagine if . .  chipboard and felt have been used to embellish this book.  Apart from being a very rushed job, this has been a fun project to complete.

 

The competition I mentioned above is infact similar to the theme of this book.  We are asking you to visit all the Design Team posts (as per usual) following our links provided and gather a clue from each site. . . . my clue is "2 running deer".  When you have visited all the sites and have gathered all the clues, simply follow this link to the Imagine if . .  facebook page and simply write "I WANT IT ALL".  Leaving a comment at every visit I'm sure will increase your chances to win .  If selected Jo will then ask you for all the clues, and you will WIN IT ALL.

 

Easy peasy, now for the necessary directions.  Before me you would have visited Katrina and next follow this link to see what Ngaere has instore for us all this week.

 

Imagine If . . product used here are:  stockings

                                                            flourish frame

                                                            candy canes & santas hat

                                                            mini xmas tree

                                                            chipboard book

                                                            felt xmas tree decorations

                                                            lettering

 

Thanks for visiting today and over the last year.  Good luck with the competition.

 I hope you all have a happy and safe Xmas and New Year. 

 

Meeting Santa

Oh dear everyone is now starting to talk about Christmas . . . . I am not even in that mind set yet.  So when I received my latest pack of goodies from Jo at Imagine if .    I had to quickly put my denial aside, grab the bit between my teeth and embrace the fact that there's only 2 months left till the end of yet another year.  Jo has sent us all lots of xmas goodies to show you all, so get ready to be 'wowwed'.

I've started off with a xmas layout using a lovely photo from last xmas, showcasing the awesome chipboard 'Santa's sleigh and reindeer' pieces.

 

I started with a Kaisercraft Christmas Basecoat paper, then layered on lots of gorgeous G45 Twelve Days of Christmas papers, following this sketch which was the October LO sketch challenge at Artfull Crafts  (which I entered AND won)

 

 

As I am no artist I simply gave the chipboard a weathered, aged look using a fab new product I've come across 'Ceramcoat' Crackle medium - I LOVE IT, and its so easy to use.  Watch out you will be seeing a lot more of it in the future.

 

This flower stalk is a gorgeous Prima product which I beheaded, then painted to suit.  The little cones I found on the roadside, have been painted, then finished with a bit of gold stickles which sadly is not showing well in this photo.  The large flower is from BoBunny.  All the different layers were hand stitched as well.

If you are following this blog hop correctly you should have come to me from Carols awesome xmassy layout and next follow this link to visit Tash with her gorgeous creation

Let's Upcycle

Time for another blog hop with Imagine if . .  and for this week Jo has left it open and has allowed us to do anything we please.  If you are following the hop correctly, you should  have come to me from Katrina's  awesome creation,

 This has been a great chance to do a bit more with my storage boxes, as I have planned to ultimately have all boxes looking pretty - yeah right ! !  I store my individual and random papers by colour and decided to paint several pizza boxes for the job, to be decorated as time permitted.  So here is my first decorated box.

 

This box obviously is for all my green paper, so I wanted everything to be differing shades of green.  I started by covering the box with scraps of green papers, then added some texture by using texture paste through several different templates, added random scraps of laces, dry wall tape, & random flowers.  These were all gesso'd, then all was coloured with various layers of green paints, Dylusions ink sprays & Lindys stamp gang sprays.  The grey Prima flowers were painted, then sprayed; the old black flourish with black felt flowers were painted, the quote was distressed then inked to match as well.  The peacock feathers add a bit more dimension and interest as well. 

 

When it was all assembled and glued down I thought it would look great with a face in the middle, so if you look carefully you will see I've inked thru one of the Imagine if . .   face stencils.  Sadly with all the texture and with the flowers already attached its hard to see, but I wasn't brave enough to use a stronger colour incase it didn't look good.

 

Here is how it now looks back on the shelf with the other plain boxes, you can see why I've decided to 'pretty' things up a bit.

 

Next stop on your journey through the hop is Carol where she is also touching on the subject of storage.  I hope our ideas give you inspiration to sort out your own collections.

 

 

Fairies that sparkle at night

How's everyone handling this colder weather?  After last weeks extreme wet & wind its been a blessing having these days of clear skies, even though it means  really cold nights and mornings.  However I have been inspired to get stuck into some more crafting rather than get cold and wet being out in the garden.
.

 

Todays project is for the 2nd Imagine if . . blog hop for July and is something I've been working on for some time on & off.  When Jo sent out her gorgeous fairies to us I really struggled for inspiration (as I live in a house full of males).  Then wedding photos on facebook from a friend gave me an idea to be a bit cheeky. 

 

 

While still searching for ideas I came across this very tired and dated table lamp at the local SPCA second hand shop, so at only $8.00 I thought I'd try to recover it and go from there.  This fabric is off white with a slight zig zag pattern on it.  The sequinned trim 'pretties' up the edges without being too much.  I HATED the square base so I had to create this round one to match, also covering with the same fabric & trim.  The beaded trim dangles look gorgeous in real life and as seen above really sparkle when the light is on.

 

 

This is when my cheeky plan came into play.  Debby is a friend of mine and coincidentally she is also a fabulous artist (visit her facebook page here) AND grandma of 2 little girls, so I asked her if she would paint these fairies in return for the lamp when it was finished.  How could she resist such a great offer?  I LOVE her efforts, she has painted everything then lastly added sparkle with Stickles.  All were then carefully shaped then glued into place.

 

Lastly I had to create the 'flower garden' on the base.  These are more of my satin roses, you can find a tutorial here.

So if you are following this blog hop correctly you should have started with Jo, and come through the ladies, and visiting Carol before me.  Next stop is to hop over to see what Lilian has in store for you all.  As previous blog hops, just leave a comment at all sites to be in with the chance to win.  The giveaway this week is two new chipboard clock cutouts and a set of keys (something I don't even have  yet). 

 

Good luck and thank you for visiting.

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Welcome to Seahorse Bay

Here we are again with the 3rd of our blog hops for Imagine if . . .  This is such a fun way to show you all these incredible new products that Jo has for you all.  If you have been following along over the last 2 weeks you will be aware of the awesome creations being created by the Design Team, along with having the chance to win some of these fantastic products for yourselves.  Again this week we are giving you all another chance to win and all you need to do is follow the blog hop, leave a comment on each blog and also comment on the facebook page for a total of 9 chances to win.

This week after starting the hop with Imagine if . ., follow thru the ladies until you reach Tash with her gorgeous work, then I follow with this:

 

The idea of Seahorse Bay was conceived after seeing an ad on TV, (I think it was the Sunday Times advertising a trip to Nuie) where I got the idea for the waves and palm trees, then as with topsy this just grew and grew. 

 

 

After making these gorgeous little houses & church, I painted this 16" x 12" canvas with varying shades of blue, created the 'shoreline' with some cord, then created the sea with all its boat and seahorses swimming about.  The willow fence in the background has actually come from an old washing basket that was destined for the rubbish.  With all the components glued in place, I found I needed to create an outside edge to contain the pebbles, which cover all the 'land', this die cut picket fence has worked very well.

 

Enjoy these closeups which show the different sides of the buildings.

 

This has been real fun to create, I hope you like it too.  To continue on your way on the blog hop just follow this link to see Lilian's fabulous creations.  Remember to leave a comment here to increase you chances to win.

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