DAD Layout With A Painted Background

I’ve not been scrapbooking as often lately. I think one reason for this is that I don’t have any recent photos printed, nor any new supplies to play with! So I printed this photo from last weekend on my Canon Selphy, and I had fun scrapbooking it today:

My Dad’s 60th birthday was back in March, but due to my Grampa (his Dad) being ill in hospital we didn’t celebrate then. Now my Grampa is home and recovering so my Dad came down for a visit, and we celebrated belatedly. We cooked him this towering chocolate sponge with strawberry jam, whipped cream, and sliced strawberries, with a drizzle of chocolate sauce on top. It was yummy!

I had to search for some inspiration for this – when I’m not scrapping as much I definitely struggle more to get started! I chose THIS LAYOUT by Missy Whidden as my inspiration – I liked the big letters with a painted background. So I cut some letters to spell ‘DAD’ using my Cricut Explore, and chose my background cardstock:

I used a paintbrush and some watered-down white acrylic paint to paint the background in a scribbled manner, and also added some splatters:

Once the white layer was dry I repeated this with red paint, though I used a sponge to apply the bulk of it rather than a brush this time:

Once the red was dry I inked the edges of the letters using a green brush pen, then stuck them onto the background – using repositionable tape so I could lift them up and tuck things under if I wanted to:

I adhered the photo with 3D foam tape.

Now it was time for the fun bit, adding journaling and lots of embellishments. I liked how the embellishments overlapped the letters on the inspiration page, so I made sure to do this on my page too. I also made sure to use the number ’60’ because that’s the birthday my Dad was celebrating. I didn’t want the numbers to be the big part of the page as it seemed mean to shout his age out!

I got to this point and then felt like the page still needed something else. I knew I’d be adding enamel dots but that wouldn’t be enough. So I dug out a few wooden stamps – my favourite being one that says ‘eat cake’ and stamped them around the page before adding the dots:

I had to stamp the ‘eat cake’ one with Stayz-On ink as I tried with pigment ink first, both grey and then black, but neither of them showed up very well – here’s what the grey looked like at first:

The ‘you’re awesome’ and ‘happy birthday’ stamps worked fine with black pigment ink though:

I really love the effect of the big letters:

I think I ended up with a fun, happy page to suit my Dad and his cheeky temperament!

Now I need to go and order a big pile of photos and start scrapbooking more again!

I hope you are having a great weekend,

Jennifer x

Wood Slice Ornaments & Gifts

(This post is part of my Frosty Festivities 2015 Blog Event – see a list of all the posts HERE)

These wood slice ornaments and gifts are so fun. I want to buy a bunch more slices so I can keep these all for myself, and make more for gifts! My favourite is the penguin keyring, which I’ve added to my bunch of keys already – no-one else is getting that!

Those are Little Miss’ hands in the photo above. The slices are about 5 – 6cm tall.

I don’t have a tutorial as such for these… because they were so easy there’s not much instruction needed!

The slices I used were Amy Tangerine’s Finder’s Keepers Wood Slices. When these arrived I was a bit disappointed with them. They were a bit thicker than I thought they’d be (about 5mm deep – not that deep but a bit thicker than I’d like for scrapbook pages). They also just looked messy – mainly because a lot of bark had fallen off. But they were greatly improved when I decided to scrape off the remaining bark with a craft knife, so the edges looked clean.

In the below photo you can see 4 slices on the left which I had already removed the bark from before realising I should take a photo. The slice on the top right still has the bark attached but it hasn’t been well sliced – the surface is very uneven. On the bottom right you can see a piece of bark which came off in one neat ring, that’s how loose it was:

I decided that 2 of the slices would have magnets stuck on the back, and 2 would have holes through the top so they could be hung for display. So I set about trying to make a hole. Unfortunately hubby had taken his drill to work and I was too impatient to wait for him to get home. So I tried to make the hole with a nail and hammer:

As you can see this didn’t go too well, as I split the wood. At first it was just a tiny crack but when I tried to make the hole bigger (thinking I could cover up the crack later) it completely broke apart. But that did mean I had a piece to experiment with, and after trying to use a screw and a screwdriver (did not work at all) I discovered that I could make a good hole with an old paper piercer! It’s important that I say OLD paper piercer, you wouldn’t want to do this with your only one as it will blunt it. I have 2 paper piercers as I blunted one years ago, so I keep that for tougher materials like this. If you have a drill that will work best!

Once I’d figured out how to make the holes I just needed to decorate the slices. This was super easy.

For the first one that would be a magnet I used the Hero Arts Lia Griffith ‘Deck The Halls’ stamp set to stamp a deer in black in the middle (with chalk ink), and two leaf garlands in gold around the deer. I did heat emboss all these, but I don’t think it made any difference so I wouldn’t bother next time! I also dotted some Mod Podge on so I could add some fine red glitter dots too:

For the next magnet slice I stamped a circular sentiment in the center (from Avery Elle ‘Joy To The World’, using Avery Elle’s ‘Cherry’ Pigment Ink), then added a thick layer of Mod Podge to the outer edge, tipping glitter on to it as I went:

For my two slices with holes I painted the centers – one white and one black, both with Martha Stewart Satin Craft Paint. Then I stuck a gold sticker (from My Mind’s Eye Christmas On Market Street) on the white slice, and painted a penguin face with white, orange, and more black paint on the black slice.

I chose to paint the majority of these slices because they had more imperfections in the wood, which is fine as I know wood is a natural element so it can’t be perfect, but I still didn’t want those showing on my finished items:

Here’s what they looked like all decorated. I did spray them with a layer of matt spray varnish as well – I’d certainly recommend varnishing one if it’s going to be a keyring:

Once the varnish was dry I tied twine through the one which would be a hanging decoration (I had to use a darning needle to get the twine through the hole), then I had a flash of inspiration and added a keyring to the penguin, and I glued magnets onto the back of the slices with no holes using superglue:

Then they were all done, ready to gift to someone for Christmas, or in my case, keep them all to myself!

Be Inspired:

Paint a penguin face on something round, or use a penguin embellishment or picture

Add stamping, glitter, or paint to something wooden (eg a wood box, frame, slice, or wood veneer shape)

Use the phrase ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ on your next project

I hope that’s given you a few ideas! Which wood slice do you like the most?

Remember that commenting on this post, and any post that goes live during November 2015, will count as another entry into the Grand Giveaway {NOW CLOSED}, but only if you’ve registered your interest in winning that prize right HERE!

I’ll be back again at 8am GMT tomorrow with the first sponsored giveaway!

Jennifer x

Will He Jump? An Autumn Scrapbook Layout

Today I have an Autumn scrapbook layout to share, as I’m feeling the change of season here.

I created this for the Hip Kit Club DT call which ended at the beginning of this week. You had to make one layout in response to the call and I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to keep the page a secret or not, but I’ve just seen that someone asked on FB if it was okay to share it and the answer was yes! I also used a Cut Shoppe file on here so I’m going to link it up to their September monthly challenge on their blog HERE too.

Will He Jump?

This photo is a perfect example of my cautious children. They don’t like to take risks and would always rather hold my hand if they are going to balance on something, or try to jump. I did end up having to hold cheeky boy’s hand after I took this photo!

I used a prompt from the Hip Kit Club Members Forum on Facebook, which was to ‘use embellishments around the edge of a large shape’. As you can see I chose to use a leaf – for which I bought a new cut file set called ‘Leaf It To Me’ from The Cute Shoppe on Etsy. I cut one of the leaves from a piece of woodgrain patterned paper using my Cricut Explore, then I started working out how to arrange things around it.

I started with a bit of stenciling on the background paper, using a Happy Scatter ‘Scattered Triangles’ stencil with some Avery Elle ‘Fizz’ ink and a Tim Holtz ink applicator tool:

I sprinkled some gold mist dots on the background paper too.

I pulled out a bunch of different bits and pieces from my stash to match the colour scheme. I wanted to use a kraft speech bubble, but it was a bit boring so I used a Shimelle True Stories ‘Burst’ stamp and some Avery Elle ‘Cherry’ ink to jazz it up. I made sure to put some felt (foam would work too) under the speech bubble when I was stamping, to give a bit of wiggle-room, so that no detail was missed out from the stamp:

Then it was just a case of moving things about until I was happy with them! I went for a nice eclectic mix as usual. The red paper triangles were cut using a free download from the Hip Kit Club Shop – you just have to create an account using your email address, and then you have access to free cut files even if you aren’t a subscriber! Score!

I loved using these bright foam Thickers for the title to make it fun and punchy:

Placing some elements (like circles and triangles) so that parts of them disappear under the photo helps tie the page together – it looks intentional and not just like you threw a bunch of stuff on a page!:

I loved making this layout, because cheeky boy has started school now, and this photo make me think of all the times we went for a walk while his big sister was at school. I’m so glad I capture moments like this.

Is it feeling like Autumn where you are in the world? Have you made an Autumn crafts? leave me a link if so!

Jennifer x

A Black & Hot Pink Card for Cardabilities #130

Today I’m sharing a black & hot pink card which I made for my Mother-In-Law for her birthday. She loves these high contrasting bold colours… and adding a bit of sparkle doesn’t hurt either!

I based the card on this sketch from Cardabilities #130:

I liked the circle to ground some elements and the slightly-splattered looking background!

I pulled some bits and pieces together:

Including a glittery hot-pink card base, and some zebra-patterned gems, both of which my in-laws bought for me on a trip to America. It feels a little cheeky using something she bought me on my MIL’s card, but I know she’ll like to see it being used!

To start with I decided a splattered-background wouldn’t suit my MIL – she’s too neat. But she does own a few birds so I added some feathers floating down the background instead. I used an old Glitz Designs roller stamp, a VersaMark ink pad, and tome white embossing powder:

I didn’t bother heat embossing in between each row… I just made a mess instead! I did scrape off the little lines of powder which you can see between the rows of feathers before I heated it though.

Once it was heated I stick this charcoal piece of paper to my glittery card base. I used a hot glue gun to adhere it as I wasn’t sure what else (other than stitching) would hold it onto the glitter! It means it’s a bit wobbly rather than perfectly flat but it doesn’t notice too much:

I layered a few more bits on top, then realised the ‘birthday’ silver word which I’d picked out would no longer fit on the card. It got lost in the busy paper to the right:

I decided I wanted to change the sentiment instead of the paper, so I found a ‘Happy Birthday’ sticker in my stash:

Then I just added a few more pretty things. I stamped a cake on the pinked half-circle on the right too, as my MIL loves cake!

It was my MIL’s birthday yesterday. She said she loved the card!

I’m on the lookout for more card challenges as I have a batch to make… do you know of any good ones?! If you want to enter the Cardabilities Sketch #130 the link is HERE and the deadline for entries is the 13th of September.

Have a great weekend, I’ll be back on Monday,

Jennifer x

Personalised Pie Chart Cork Coasters

Today I’m sharing a quick and fun make for your home or as a DIY gift – personalised pie chart cork coasters!

These were so easy to make!

Step 1: Start with some round cork coasters – mine were £1 for a pack of 4 from Ikea. Measure the middle point of each one, marking the center with a pencil dot:

Step 2: Use washi tape to create your first piece of ‘pie’ – I did mine all a little different from each other:

Step 3: Paint the piece of ‘pie’ with your first colour (I used Martha Stewart ‘Mint’ Satin Craft Paint). Paint two coats of paint for each colour:

Step 4: Once the first colour has dried peel off the washi tape and reposition it so one piece is on top of one edge of your first colour, and the other piece is marking where your next piece of ‘pie’ will end. Paint the next colour (I used MS ‘Pink Carnation’ paint):

Step 5: Repeat with your last colour (I mixed up a few colours so that I had a nice creamy hue):

Step 6: Patch up any untidy areas – for example there’s a gap between the pink and green colour on the bottom left coaster in the photo above, which I just painted in using the green paint and a tiny paintbrush.

Then use small alpha stamps and some Staz-On ink to stamp some words onto your pie chart. This is where you can personalise the coasters by using the right words, and the right amount of pie for those words, to suit the person who will be using the coaster. Mine has ‘blog’ for the biggest piece, while my kids have ‘play’ and my husband has ‘work’:

I have written ‘school’ on my son’s one though he doesn’t start until September, but I didn’t want to write ‘nursery’ as it would be out of date in a few months!

Step 7: Spray the coasters with a varnish to protect them from drips and spills (I used Liquitex Satin Varnish). You could also use a brush-on varnish but beware you might end up with brush marks in it!

I bought a second pack of the cork coasters to experiment with too. Here’s what I ended up with on those ones:

Top Left: Arrows painted through the Happy Scatter Which Way Arrows Stencil, then outlined with black pen

Top Right: Glitter on Mod Podge – I did the blue side first, then the orange, leaving it to dry thoroughly in between

Bottom Left: Using texture paste through a Happy Scatter Going In Circles Stencil

Bottom Right: Using VersaMark ink and gold glitter embossing powder to stamp bunting and stars, inking over it with a Memento black chalk ink, then using a baby wipe to clean the black off the gold

I definitely like the pie charts best but all these other ones could be fun too – I want to try the heat embossing one out with some different colours so I guess I will go back to Ikea soon!

Who would you make a pie chart coaster for? What would it have written on the biggest piece of ‘pie’?

Have a great day,

Jennifer x

A Giveaway! Sponsored By The Little Stamp Store! {NOW CLOSED}

(This post is part of my Focus Your Craft & Soul Blog Event – see the list of all the posts HERE!)

Here’s another giveaway for you {NOW CLOSED}! This one is sponsored by the beautiful Little Stamp Store who sell hand-carved rubber stamps that are gorgeously unique!

The Little Stamp Store is giving away a really amazing stamp set that I really really want for myself, so make sure you keep reading to find out how to win it…

I do love a really good stamp and I can never have too many in my opinion! I love how the stamps in the Little Stamp Store have examples of a way to use them in their images, and there’s a mix of them stamped on cards, tags, and fabric (eg little linen gift bags). It shows just how useful and versatile stamps can be!

Here are a few stamps from the store which go really well with the ‘Focus’ theme:

1. The Geometric Triangle Set – This new set would be great for making patterns, I love how it’s shown here stamped at the edge of a gift box. It makes it look so bold and trendy:

2. The Camera Stamp – This camera looks so cool! I can see this ending up stamped on lots of layouts and cards – the perfect accent icon:

3. The Arrow Stamp – I love this stamp for is simplicity. It’s exactly what I would reach for over and over again – because it’s not fussy it wouldn’t matter if you use it all the time on your scrapbook pages and other projects. I want to stamp it on all my envelopes when I address them:

Aren’t they all amazing? I’m saving up to buy them all! I love thinking of Fran (the shop owner) carefully carving them all by hand in her new ‘shedio’ studio! It makes it extra special to use something that’s been made by hand.

Now for the giveaway. One lucky commenter will win:

A Personalised Arrows Stamp! How stunning is this? The winner can tell Fran what initials to include on their stamp, so it will be unique to you!

To enter the giveaway {NOW CLOSED}: Just pop over to the Little Stamp Store Etsy Shop, take a look around, and come back here to leave a comment telling me about an item or two that caught your eye (it doesn’t need to be ‘focus’ related, just anything you like).

You could also pop by the Little Stamp Store’s other online links:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/LittleStampStore

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/fransherbourne/

It’s not compulsory to check these out but obviously Fran would love it if you said hello!

The giveaway closes at 10pm BST on Sunday the 24th of May 2015 {NOW CLOSED}. It is open internationally. The winner will be announced here on Thursday the 28th of May, so make sure you check back to see if you won.

Good luck! I’ll see you again at 8pm!

Jennifer x

Triangle Pattern Layout Process Video

I’ve got a new scrapbook layout process video to share with you today! This one features a triangle pattern that was inspired by the crazy paving in the photo – paving which I ‘helped’ my Great Uncle to lay when I was four years old, and played on with my brother often in our childhood years. I snapped this photo of my two kids playing on the same paving and smiled to think of all those years gone by!

I had a lot of fun mixing up the colours and styles of the paper for my triangle pattern. To see how I put the whole page together you can watch this video:

 

Here’s a few detail shots of the page too…

I added the glitter star by the title after I’d finished recording and packed away the camera – because I found the packet of stars on the floor:

Inking the edges of the triangles helped them to stand out much better against the background:

I like how the tree makes the page look more like a scene:

Do you ever pull patterns from your photos, rather than just colours or themes? Why not give it a go?!

I hope you have a great day! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway HERE if you haven’t already!

Jennifer x