Marion Smith Scrapbooking papers and elements.

altered stuff
Have you seen the new Marion Smith Scrapbooking papers and embellishments? well they are a real treat!
This is Marion Smith, and I am totally in love with the beauty of her paper ranges and embellishments. The problem is what not to create with this amazing range, because the possibilities are endless. So I settled onto a range of decorative “homes”, simply because I needed something to display in a little empty spot in my work area. And since the colours of the MS papers and embellishments were a perfect fit with my French farmhouse look I was totally sold on the idea.
I started off with cutting a few off cut pieces of wood into rough house shapes. I then covered them in a layer of gel medium and adhered the patterned paper to the wood, covering each paper with another layer of gel medium and letting it dry. Gel medium is different than Modge Podge and in my opinion a much better product. Gel medium is an artist quality product that acts as an adhesive and a sealant, but best of all is that is pulls the paper down into an even finish – perfectly every time.
Once the paper dried really well I sanded the edges to remove any excess paper and then started with my decorating, of course my favourite part. I used a couple of the patterned papers to fussy cut some elements, added stamped sentiments, pretty blooms and the beautiful Junque & Gems embellishments as part of my decorating. All the elements and colours thrown together make for a pretty mix of vintage glamour, utter romance and classic elegance. As a finishing touch I used some gold leafing on the slopes of the roof for added bling.
i love the soft colours and designs of the papers - so beautiful!
some washi tape and Teresa Collins words add even more charm to this range.
Products used
Marion Smith Garment District 6x6 Paper Pack [MS 101022]
Marion Smith Junque & Gems - Early Birds [MS 101028]
Marion Smith Mad Tea Party 6x6 Paper Pack [MS 101030]
VersaFine Ink Pad - Onyx Black [TVF-82]

scrap africa challenge - recycled tag.

graphic 45
There's a new challenge up over at Scrap Africa - recycle! right up my alley! With the challenges i like to make tags - they are a quick and easy reference for me to just play and create and experiment and get things done of course.
i used this tag as my starting point for a gift tag - it's from a new fitted sheet i got a couple of months ago and i just love that recycled emtini liner cardstock it is printed on! i only used the 'care instructions' part of the tag though
i used Graphic 45 and Dina Wakeley stamps for my background...
some coloured ribbon, washi tape and pearls add some finishing touches!
we hope you will play along, so hop on over to the blog and see what everyone else did with this challenge! hope you are having a wonderful week!

Nuts about sketches double page layout with Prima.

cuttlebug
There's a new challenge up at Nuts about sketches and this is a great one - i loved everything about this sketch, and i loved how my layout turned out! i did a LOT of Christmas layouts last year for a lot of different reasons, but this was a really special one (even better up close and personal).
this was of my regular friends' Christmas dinner we had together. i used a single sheet of Prima patterned paper for this layout - the piece on the left hand side running down.
the remainder of the paper was cut out and you can see that below - the feather and rose grouping. just love that. i combined it with some Heidi Swapp and Teresa Collins' elements and cut out bits from papers. the red and black striped tape is a Heidi Swapp product from way back when and it just worked beautifully.
i used the die-cut circle i made on my Cuttlebug using washi tapes, with some stamped images inside it. a few diamante were added to finish it off.
i used this beautiful washi tape to add some delicate writing to the top edge and the gold just picks up on the gold in the photos and in the paper. a few gold confetti circles works really nicely scattered amongst some other elements.
and here's how i got to that die cut again as written about it here
hope you feel inspired - i love scrapping themes but not necessarily using themed papers and elements. it can be done to suit your style - and this one is right up my alley! have a wonderful week and thank you for popping by - followers of blogs are special people and you are truly loved and valued! thank you!

Xcut recycled tool caddy.

altered stuff
I am for ever losing my most used tools on my desk that is always so full of work in progress projects. This also leads to me losing my sense of humour and some other things every now and again. So what’s a girl to do?
Well you hoard stuff and then one day you figure it out. The other day I was given a whole bunch of plastic containers that are used to store shell casings in – you know for guns right! Don’t ask. Anyways - so they were lying around and then I threw some away just to pick some out of the trash pile again – because the possibilities where there.
 If you are still confused – it’s the black plastic part of my tool caddy pictures. I then happened to stumble upon a gift box at Mr Price that could be the perfect size for this little sucker to fit into. I took a chance and when I got home it was oh so perfect and fitted like they were made for each other. I simply discarded the lid of the box and inserted the plastic holder.

How I decorated my tool caddy
I covered the outside of the store bought box using Crate Flea Market patterned paper. The tag came from the same range of paper and then used some of the tags to die cut 3 little petals using my Xcut flower die set. The flowers were so delicate and perfect I just added some ink around the edges and layered them on top of each other for dimension. I didn’t want to decorate the functionality away from this caddy but wanted it to still look pretty. I wrapped some pretty ribbon around the top end and inserted the plastic part back into the box. The plastic circles are big enough to hold all of my favourite tools, scissors, journaling pens and pencils – no more looking for all those very important bits to get me crafting.
With a little bit of imagination and some recycling you can make something so simple and functional. And those die cuts sure do make life a lot easier – they cut like butte through paper and cardstock which makes decorating your everyday life so much prettier.
i love how my XCut tools perfectly fitted into the holes and the colours are really pleasing with everything beautifully co-ordinated!
Products Used 
Crate Flea Market Paper Pad Cuttlebug V2 [PC 2000293] 
Glue Dots Pop Up [GD12296-75] 
Tombow Mono Multi Glue [TB 62191] 
Purple Turtle Double Sided Tape - 48mm [PT13] 
Xcut A5 Die Set – Flowers [DXCU503195] 
Xcut A5 Die Set – Leaves [DXCU503194]

Popular Posts

  • valentine card template.
    here's a quick heart card or booklet idea. trace the template below and enlarge or reduce as you please to the size you want. trace onto...
  • charming and adorable layout.
    to date this must be one of my favourite layouts i have done ever! you know the day when everything just works out perfectly...and quickly! ...

Like us on Facebook

Flickr Images