Return of the swallows art journal page

As part of my creative crew duties for Tangie and Co I write a blog post each month. My speciality is mixed media so it will always include paint or pastes, inks and crayons. This month I used the new kit released by Tangie and Co to celebrate International Scrapbooking day which was the first Saturday of May.   All of Tangie and Co's products are digital. I find digital products more flexible then buying papers etc as you can have them as many times as you wish in what ever size you want. They are not just for digital art. Here is my page for May -  

You can find my step by step tutorial on the Tangie and Co blog here -

 https://shoptangiebaxter.com/blogs/news/returning-of-swallows-mixed-media-art-journal-page

 

The Tangie and Co products I used can be found here as well as details of the wonderful Art Journal Emporium membership -

https://shoptangiebaxter.com/

 

Angels are near Art Journal page

 I have been an Art Journaler for about 10 years now and I think it is one of my favourite ways to craft. What I love so much about it is no one judges, you don't have to show it to anyone if you don't want to. Everyone has their own style so everyones journals will be different, which is a good thing. The best thing though is its all for you, which is very unusual in crafting.     Now if you are a keen crafter, which I am assuming you are, you would of noticed that art journaling has become trendy over the past couple of years. Every craft product producer has jumped on the band wagon and insist you need all the wonderful products to be a good art journaler. The truth is you don't need anything special, as long as you have a journal to work in and something to work with your good to go.        So I thought it would be nice start a series of art journaling pages for The Fruit Pixie to show you how I go about making my pages and so help people begin art journaling for themselves. I will start with an easy page aimed at the complete beginner and working my way through lots of different techniques I have learnt along the way.          To start with you need a journal. For these demonstrations I will be using the IndigoBlu Junk and disordley art journal

This is great for a beginner because it is bound together using book rings so you can take the pages out to work on them.

 

So lets start. The key to a beautiful art journal page is layers and layers and layers. Just keep layering until you like the look.

 

The way I like to work is choose a few paint colours to work with, don't choose too many colours, about 5 or 6 at the most and choose some light and dark colours in your set. I used the Cosmic Shimmer chalk paints. Pour out a little of each paint you have selected in front of you, I work on a glass mat but I have also use a glass chopping board you can get at the Pound shop or other high street shops.

 

I then just get some colour onto the page. I use all sorts for different things for this but my favourite is a wet wipe. These are great to paint with and there is no brush to wash at the end!!! If you are a bit nervous about painting with a paint brush then give the wet wipe technique a try, just scrunch it up and dip,it in the paint then wipe it onto your page. It's much quicker and easier than a brush and blends the colours beautifully.

 

Next I turned to some stamps. Visible Image has some great art journaling style stamps. To start with I used Visible Image Orbital stamp but instead of using ink with them I used paint. Just sponge the paint onto your stamp and stamp as usual. You must then wash the paint off straight away with soapy water. This wont hurt your stamp at all, as long as you wash the paint off immediately. I keep an old toothbrush to use for this.

 

I then used the Angels are near stamp set also from Visible image. I used paint again but this time I wanted them to stand out a bit more, so I used a dark pink paint.

 

I felt they were a bit too visible so I added a bit more paint by dry brushing it on top. To dry brush take some paint onto your brush

but then work almost all of it off by painting backwards and forwards on your glass mat. Then use what is left on your page. It gives you a lovely soft finish.

 

To finish off my page I stamped and heat embossed the feather and quote from the Visible image Angels are near set. I used the Cosmic shimmer pastel blue embossing powder for the feather and a black embossing powder of my own for the quote

 

Finishing with some paint splats. For these water down your paint with water and using a toothbrush pick up some paint and aiming at the page quickly stroke the brush part of the toothbrush with your finger. This is a bit hit and miss so if you need to, protect your work area.

 

Congratulations you have a finished are journal page. Of course you can build up the page more if you like but I thought this was enough for a complete beginner.

 

You can find all the things I used in The Fruit Pixie Shop.

 

You can find the IndigoBlu journal here -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/indigoblu-junk-and-disorderly-art-journal-26811-p.asp

 

Cosmic shimmer paint -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-paints-644-c.asp

 

Visible Image stamps -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/visible-image-angels-are-near-25123-p.asp

 

Cosmic shimmer embossing powder-

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-embossing-powders-313-c.asp

 

 

 

 

 

Art Deco card

  This week I have started playing with the Graphic 45 Vintage Hollywood papers and stamps. This is my idea of heaven! I love my old films, when films had a story, believable characters, beautiful gowns ( that were called gowns and even had a designer ) handsome leading men and wonderful music scores.  Of course I also know it was all make believe. Film stars lives made up for the sake of the fans and box office takings but what a beautiful lie it was. So you won't be surprised to hear I love this set!!!  For this project I have gone back to basics and made a simple stamped card.

The card base I made in the Silhouette design software but there are lots of shaped cards on the market. You could also do this on a square card too. This was made to fit a 5x5 inch envelope.

 

The backing paper is from the 8x8 paper pad. I mounted that onto gold paper I had in my scraps bag.

 

The image and word Glamour are from the Vintage Hollywood stamp set 3. I stamped them onto gold card and embossed them in black embossing powder.

 

I added 2 die cut stars to finish the card off.

 

You can find the Graphic 45 Vintage Hollywood papers and stamps in the Fruit Pixie shop here -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/vintage-hollywood-703-c.asp

 

Embossing powder-

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/embossing-powders--utee-18-c.asp

 

Versamark pad, I find this pad best for embossing with -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/versamark-watermark-pad-14963-p.asp

 

 

 

Voyage beneath the sea altered the part 2

Hi, here is the second part of my Beneath the Sea altered book I made for The Fruit Pixie online shop using the Graphic 45 Beneath the Sea papers and stamps The first part of the book can be found here -http://artyparrot.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/graphic-45-voyage-beneath-sea-altered.html So back to the altered book.

So the first page we are looking at in this post is the reverse of the folded page

 

 

On the left hand folded page I used one of the lovely mermaid stamps from the Graphic 45 papers Deep blue dreams. The quote is one of the Graphic 45 stamps and then I added some die cuts and highlighted it all using the Ranger distress crayons and a white pen.

 

As it was an Under the sea theme I wanted a port hole in my book. So I glued the pages of the next section together, left them to dry overnight and then drew round the right size circle I wanted, after searching through every cupboard in the house, and then slowly cut it out using a craft knife with a sharp blade in it.

 

I cut the two port holes out of scrap card using two circle dies and used Candies as rivets. I then covered the port hole with the same aluminium tape, you can buy at DIY stores, as I used for the cover. As this stretches I could use a ball tool to go around the Candies to make them look like rivets. I then coloured the porthole using alcohol ink in the same way as I did for the cover.

I glued acetate to the back of both of the portholes. Then I glued the first porthole to the page lining it up with the hole I cut in the book pages. Then I turned the page over and added some watch parts and coloured shell bits (I bought these from the Pound shop, they were in the beauty part as they are to stick to your nails) to the centre of the acetate. I then glued the second porthole to the page lining it up with the first one.

 

Now the difficult part...... wait for it to dry!! If you don't and tip it up it will all stick to the glue and won't be a shaker porthole, believe me I know from experience!

 

I then added a die cut seahorse and one of the stamped quotes finishing it off with distress crayons and white pen.

 

 

Then on the other side of the shaker porthole I added some of the paper parts and for the facing page I used one of the picture quotes from the Graphic 45 beneath the sea wild wild waves paper. I wanted to be able to see the divers helmet through the porthole and it worked too!

 

 

 

The next couple of pages I added some ink through stencils, some more of the beautiful picture quotes from this paper line together with die cuts and some distress crayon smudging. Also some white paint splatters as I did throughout the book.

 

Then we get to the final page!!!

 

It was the reason why I wanted to do the altered book to begin with. The beautiful mermaid picture. I wanted her in a deep frame.

 

 

The way you get this look is to use ruler and pencil to mark out the frame you want. I do that before I do any painting at all, right at the beginning as part of your prep work.

 

Hold all the pages for the depth of your frame together and glue around the outside of the pages, on all four sides. Clamp them together with pegs or clips if you can. If not then put some baking paper between the paper block and the next page to stop it sticking to the rest of the book and put something heavy on top. Let it dry completely over night.

 

Once its dry, using a craft knife with a new blade and a steel ruler, slowly cut around the frame. Cut through a few pages at a time removing the pages as you go, until you get the depth you want. Don't try to do it all in one go. Take this easy as its a lot of cutting, so take breaks and keep a sharp blade in you knife. One of the reasons we stuck the pages together just on the outside edge and didn't glue the complete page to each other was so you can remove the pages easier and you are not having to cut through all that glue as well as paper.

 

Once you have cut out your frame you can glue anything you think needs glueing together and then decorate. Using a paper frame around your cut frame will hide any rough edges. 

 

I used the panel from the Graphic 45 beneath the sea wild wild waves paper but cut the frame off to use as a frame of my cut frame.

 

The left hand page has been stencilled and then a panel and a couple of borders used to decorate the page. I also used a stamped quote and a couple of die cuts as well as my distress crayons and white pen to add some arty touches.

 

Well, thats it the whole book. Thank you for staying with me to the end. I really hope you enjoyed it and will have a go at an altered book yourself, they really are great fun to do. There are no rules just do what you like in your style, believe me you will love it.

 

The Graphic 45 papers can be found in the Fruit Pixie shop here -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/voyage-beneath-the-sea-697-c.asp

 

White pen here -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/inkssentials-white-opaque-pigment-ink-pen-5352-p.asp

 

Candi as part of a Craftwork Cards paper pack -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craftwork-cards-8-x-8-collection-pack-bohemian-dreams-25673-p.asp

 

 

 

 

       

Graphic 45 Voyage beneath the sea altered book part 1

  Today I have a big project I have created for The Fruit Pixie using the beautiful Graphic 45 Voyage beneath the Sea papers and stamps to share with you.   As soon as I opened these papers and stamps I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. An altered book! I love it when inspiration strikes like that, don't you? It turned into quite a project so I decided to show you in too parts.                   Voyage beneath the sea altered book part 1 -    To start with perhaps you don't know what an altered book is? Well it is a wonderful project to do. You take a hard backed book, you want to choose one that has been stitched together, if it is a glued binding they tend to fall apart half way through so I avoid those. Then cut out some of the pages, don't pull them out or you might damage the binding, to compensate for the papers etc you will put into your project. I then like to divide up the book into sections, you won't want to decorate every page in a book so perhaps 5 or 6 pages or sections. Create your pages and then glue the spare pages together to form your altered book. This will all become clear when I walk you through mine.    So, here it is -  

I like to work on the cover last, mainly because I don't want to worry about getting any paint etc over my beautifully decorated cover. For this book I wanted to look like it had come from the bottom of the sea. So I used a very old technique of using alcohol ink on top of silver aluminium tape ( you can get it at DIY shops on now and again at Lidl ) 

 

To make the rivets I used some of the Craftwork cards Candi. I stuck them to the book cover using the small 3D foam before I put the tape over the top. The great thing about the aluminium tape is that is has a lot of give in it and so you can cover the Candi then gently run a ball tool around the Candi and it looks like a rivet.

 

Choose your alcohol ink colours, I use 3 at a time, apply to your felt applicator tool and then dab all over the tape.

 

Once the ink is dry I used a couple of the toppers from the 12x12 Voyage beneath the Sea and a stamp from the 12x12 deep blue sea.

 

I also highlighted the rivets using the Ranger distress stain in gold.

 

 

 

 

For the first page I wanted to make some pockets and tags. So I used some scrap card and cut it to size I needed, then stuck it to the books pages to form pockets.

 

I then painted and stencils and stamped to my hearts content, adding images from the papers and die cut cogs.

 

For this seahorse tag I cut a tag out of Kraft card and then covered it with the 12x12 Ocean quest paper. I then painted over the paper in the middle part of the tag and used a steampunk stencil over the top.

 

I cut the sea horse out of the 12x12 Voyage beneath the sea paper and collaged him onto the tag.

 

 

For the mermaid tag I made the tag in the same way as the seahorse but used a shell stencil instead of a steampunk one.

 

I stamped the mermaid from the stamp set. The mermaid quote is also a stamp stamped onto a piece of book paper and coloured using Ranger distress crayons.

 

I then added some white paint splats to the tags and book page too.

 

 

A great technique when altering a book is cutting or folding the pages into all sorts of shapes so you can revel or cover up parts of the book which adds interest and surprises for the reader.

 

For the left hand page I simply used one of the quotes from the 12x12 Wild wild waves paper. Then I have folded part of the right hand page up so you can see part of the next page and the giant octopus peeping out.

 

I have used paint and stencils for the background of the right hand page then stamped the man riding his fish using one of the stamps and added some colour to him.

 

He needed something to ride through so I used some seaweed die cuts and cogs which I highlighted with distress crayons and white pen.

 

 

 

This is the page you had a glimpse of before. I also folded the right hand page too so, again you can see on into the book.

 

I used the mermaid stamp again and the giant octopus is a die cut as are the bubbles.

 

Then background is made up using paint and stencils and highlighted using distress crayons and white pen.

 

Again you can see on into the book but that will have to wait.

 

 

Now a secret.......sometimes your book begins to fall apart as you work with it, as mine did, so if you look very closely you can see some washi tape down the middle of the page. If this happens to, you don't worry. You can either use any paper tape like masking tape or washi tape and either cover it up or let it add to the design. It all adds to the feel of your book at the end.

 

So that is almost half way through my Voyage under the sea altered book. 

 

I will return next week with part two!

 

If you have any questions or need some help I am only too happy to help. You can ask them here or over on the Fruit Pixie face book page.

 

You can find the beautiful papers in the Fruit Pixie shop here -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/voyage-beneath-the-sea-697-c.asp

 

White pens here -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/white-pens-415-c.asp

 

 Candi for the rivets here -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craftwork-cards-8-x-8-collection-pack-time-flies-25760-p.asp

 

I will be back very soon with part 2 of my Voyage beneath the Sea altered book!

 

( did that just sound like a flim trailer to you??? It did me ! x)

 

 

Penny slider congrats on passing your driving test card

My youngest nephew passed his driving test first time a couple of days ago and so, of course I had to make him a card to congratulate him! 

 

I had the card and topper from a Hunkedory card set called Milestones but I wanted something a bit more dinamic than that. When I noticed the little car die cut on the topper sheet I knew what I wanted to do. A penny slider card so the little car rolls and spins around the road.

  The penny slider part of the card and base can be found in the Silhouette design store to be cut out on my Sillhouette cameo.    These cards are such fun to make and everybody loves them!  

Easter tree time

Each year I like to,have an Easter tree. Hubby cuts me some blossom branches and I decorate them. Some of the decorations I have made other bought, usually in sales.      Here is this years, the branches are from the apple tree as the cherry is in full flower at the moment so not good to cut.

 

 I made some new decorations this year. The bunnies, carrots and eggs which I cut on my Silhouette Cameo.

 

 

We went out to lunch today with hubbies family and so I gave the ladies the Easter baskets with a little egg and for the gentlemen I made these little treat holders for their eggs.

 

 

Our great nephew is too small for chocolate but I couldn't leave him out so I made him a soc bunny

 

 

 

Have a wonderful Easter x

 

Spring 3d tulips

  We have had some beautiful spring weather here in the southwest of England and all the spring flowers look beautiful in the sunshine. They have inspired me to make my own spring tulips using the Paperartsy Tulip die set and matching Paperartsy stamps which are available at The Fruit Pixie online shop and are a bargain at the moment as they are half price!  

 

I made a pot for my tulips on my Silhouette Cameo die cutting machine but a real pot would be even better. My hubby is a very keen gardener so all pots were taken!!

 

The tulips are very easy to make! First I chose my coloured cardstock and found two different shades of each colour. 

 

The stamp set has two different styles of Tulip and each Tulip has three sections. I chose the style that has a outside line to the design. I stamped each stamp in that set three times and then die cut them all out using the corresponding die. You will find it easier if you stamp first and the use a piece of low tack tape (or tape you have de tacked by sticking it to your cloths a couple of times ) to hold the die in the right place before you run it through your machine.  If you don't own a die cutting machine then you can just cut them out by hand but with the dies you get the same shape each time.

 

Fold each layer of Tulip in half from left to right. The tulips are not symmetrical so they won't meet up perfectly but this doesn't really show when the Tulip is finished.

 

Then stick the two layers of each flower on top of each other so the folds are in the same place. For the third layer I only stuck the bottom half down so I could curl it over when my Tulip was finished.

 

You now need to make the stem. This needs to support the Tulip so I used a bamboo skewers. I used some green Washi  tape to cover the skewer and make them more stem like.

 

Now take one of your tulips and stick its petal to the second Tulips petal. Take your stem and stick it on the inside of the Tulip along the line of the petals you glued together. 

 

Then stick the third petal over the top and stick all the petals together giving you a 3d Tulip as in the photo. You might need to use a couple of pegs to hold the petals together while they stick. I used a normal PVA white glue and had not trouble getting them to stick. Once they are dry curl the top petal over as shown on the photo.

 

 

For the leaves I used the same stamp and die as the last layer of the flower but stamped it onto green card. I then stuck it together with the stem in between.

 

The little flag was simply made by cutting a strip of paper into a long thin rectangle, folding it around the wooden support (that came from a pot of hyacinths we bought, it held the variety and price attached to it. It was just the job so I saved it as I liked the shape) I wrote spring in green pen and then stuck it around the little post and tied some garden string to the top. You could use another bamboo skewer for this.

 

To get them all to stand up was a bit of a battle. In the end I used Blutack at the bottom of the pot and pushed the end of my skewers into it. I then scrunched up some old tissue paper to support the skewers and fill the pot. I then could just cover top of the pot with dried moss it give it a realistic look.

 

This is such a nice bright cheerful project which would make a lovely gift or as I have done with mine, something for your own home. They need no light or water so can go anywhere. Mine are in the hall to welcome you home. They are also perfect for anyone who is in hospital too.

 

If you would like to make your own tulips you will need-

 

Paperartsy Tulip stamps 50% off at the mo!

 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/eclectica3-collection-lin-brown-elb08-23263-p.asp

 

Paperartsy matching die set also 50% off

 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/paperartsy-die-tulip-1-23274-p.asp

 

Cardstock - 

 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/coredinations-core-essentials-brights-15533-p.asp

 

Washi tape -

 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/washi-tape-625-c.asp

 

Have fun making your Tulips and have a very happy Easter!

 

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     

Collage sheet Easter baskets

I thought I would show you the Easter baskets I made for Tangie Baxter and Co. I am part of their creative crew and made these for an Easter blog post. They were made using 3 of her digital collage sheets that I printed out onto printable card and then made up into these baskets large enough for a Cadbury cream egg, my favourite!  

 

If you would like to see my post with full photo instructions on how to make these cute baskets then visit the Tangi Baxter and Co blog - https://shoptangiebaxter.com/blogs/news.

 

 I have a really cute fun Easter treat box idea that will put a smile on anyone's face, that I made for The Fruit Pixie

   I made these using the Graphic 45 Bohemain Bazzar papers but any orange paper or card will do as well.

  All you need to do is cut a rectangle of your carrot paper, mine was 5.5" x 6",  roll them into a tube and stick the seam down using red line tape. I then sealed one end horizontally.

   Cut a rectangle of green paper and feather cut it to make it look like carrot tops. I also put mine through a paper ribber as I found mine the other day at the back of a drawer. I then folder my carrot tops in half to make them look thicker.

  Fill your carrot with Easter treats and seal the other end encasing the carrot tops, this time vertically.

                       So there you are a cut fun way to give your loved ones a sweet treat this Easter.

                                           

Nephew birthday card and fun gift

The end of March beginning of April is a busy crafting time for me. Last weekend was my Nephews birthday and Mother's Day. Then this weekend it is my brother- in-law's birthday and mine too. So as you can imagin I had lots of things to make.     My nephew was 20 (I can't begin to tell you how old that makes me feel!!) and has a job with a desk. He had mentioned to my sister, his Mum, that he would like a plant to go on it, trouble was a) it would get hardly any light and b) he would never remember to water it. So a cactus was decided upon.       I hate shopping because I always want something that is never in any of the shops available to me as a non driver. So of course there was not a cactus to be had. Luckily though I'm a Crafter! So I just made one!!  

 

 These are such fun. I made 2 because I couldn't decide which one to make. They were perfect and looked so real with the moss around the top. He absolutely loved them too.

 

You can buy the file for them in the Silhouette design store.

 

 I also made him his birthday card. He is quite a keen photographer so I made him this retro camera card.

 

 

For my brother-in -Law, who is a very keen cyclists I made this card.

 

 

Thank goodness it wasn't Easter as well!!

Ring binder transformation

I am one of the Creative crew for Tangi Baxter's Art Journal Emporium. https://shoptangiebaxter.com/  This year the way we work has changed slightly, each week Tangie Baxter creates worksheets for us to work on or think about, so gaining inspiration for our Art Journaling pages.  One of the challenges was to create a cover for our books or folders, depending on how we had chosen to store them. I had decided to use a ring binder and my dear hubby had found an old one for me to store them in. Trouble was it was a boring black plastic covered folder with a plastic pocket on the front, you know,the ones.  At first I though I would just make an A4 art piece to put in the pocket on the front, I didn't want to do too much to it. Later I changed my mind and thought I would just remove the pocket and just leave the black plastic, after all I didn't want to take too much time on it.  In the end I decided to take it all apart. I took the black plastic off compleatly, which then left separate bits of folder. I then had to put it all back together again using just the grey board pieces which were inside the black plastic. So much for not taking too much time on it!!!  I was then left with a blank binder. First I covered it with cheap watercolour paper so I had a nice surface to paint on.   Next I then got my Geli plate out and used it to paint the first few layers, building up the pattern using texture sheets I had made to imprint a pattern. Then I used lots of stencils to build up a finished look for my covers. Here is how it turned out.

For the front I used a Crafters Workshop small stencils for the flowers which I sponged through orange and pink acrylic paint. Later I added white paint pen circles and details

 

I used blue and orange on the background and was not too worried about the white paper showing through. This happened because of the texture on the paper.

 

The back I just left with the Geli prints, just filling in any spots I thought needed with some more paint.

 

For the spine of the folder I used another Crafters workshop stencil and once dry I used an orange paint pen to outline the arrows. I also added some lines and smudges using a credit card dipped in paint.

 

For the inside I began by painting it all orange. I then used a 12x12 stencil by Crafters Workshop for my stars. I love this stencil, it always looks stunning. This time I sponged through a lilac blue paint and then drew around the stars with a white paint pen. It looked a bit too clean and crisp so I added some smudges and lines to dirty it up.

 

 

 

 

To decorate the inside of the spine I used part of another Crafters Workshop stencil. I then used a paint pen to out line it and added smudges and lines to dirty it up.

 

Then finally the back inside cover. I used another of my favourite Crafter Workshop stencil. Outlined in white paint pen and lots of smudges and lines to dirty it up again.

 

 

I really enjoyed doing this and I am so glad I did take some time over it. I sealed it once it was dry to protect it as it will get a lot of use.

I must admit I am really pleased with the finished look, not colours I would normally choose but I love then together. Hope you like them too.

 

Mother's Day card

Here is a Mother's Day card I made using the Craftwork Cards Scrumptious kit I have made for the Fruit Pixie.  

The Craftwork Cards Scrumptious paper kit is such a pretty set. I have found so many different thinks to do with it.

 

This card was made using just two sheets of the 8x8 inch paper pad and a few Candies . I began with the blue background paper that has some lovely pink and brown swirls. I covered my 5x7 white card blank with that paper, sticking the card blank in place on the back of the paper where I wanted it before cutting it out.

 

 I then cut out the doodled flowers from another of the background paper. I stuck one of the main designs onto the top left of the card and cut the second one apart. I placed the little flower on the bottom right and a second flower coming in from the top right.

 

With all of the Craftwork Cards kits you get a bag of their Candi. The doodle flower designs have circles within the design which are the same size as the Candi. So I used them to add more height and colour. I stuck the Candi on to the card using small 3d foam squares, which helps support them.

 

I then used my blue glitter pen to colour in parts of the doodle flower design which added a little sparkle. 

 

The lettering I cut out of the remainder of the doodle flower paper using some alphabet dies. I traced around the letters with my blue glitter pen to help them pop from the card.

 

You can find all the products I used here in the Fruit Pixie online shop, except the alphabet dies and blue glitter pen.

 

You can find the Craftwork Cards Scrumptious paper kit here - 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craftwork-cards-8-x-8-collection-pack-scrumptious-25687-p.asp

 

The card blanks here -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/5-x-7-card-blanks-511-c.asp

 

3D foam to attach your Candi to the card -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/3d-foam-pads-assorted-258-p.asp

 

 

   

Graphic 45 City Scapes travel case

 I have a fun little project to show you today that I made using one of the Graphic 45 City Scapes papers and the wonderful matching stamp sets for the Fruit Pixie.

It was difficult to chose which paper to use as they are all so lovely. I finally decided on the 12x12 crossroads paper.

I made the little suitcase using a design on my Silhouette Cameo electronic cutting machine but you could find a template online or use one of the  paper mache shapes you can buy. It would also be nice to cover a little gift box too.

I used all 3 sets of the stamp sets, which I stamped onto kraft card using black ink and cut out, to collage the front of the case. I also stamped a little tag too.

To go inside the little case I made a small accordion book.

I cut 2 covers from the same card as the case then cut a another piece of card the same height as the cover but 4 times the width.

 I scored it into 4 pages and then folded it into a concertina and stuck the covers to each end.

Again using the stamps I stamped, cutout and collaged the inside of the book

  

I also used some of the scraps left from cutting out the case, to decorate the ends.

To keep the little book closed I made a wrap from the scraps of the paper.

               I added a little colour to some of the stamped images to give some contrast.

I also stamped a border top and bottom just to give a bit more interest.

Of course you could leave the book plain and use it as a a travel journal or planner.

I stamped and image for the cover and added one of the sentiments too.

The inside of the case was also decorated with the Graphic 45 paper City Scapes. It is a double sided paper, so lots of ways you can used it.

I also used some of the Cosmic Shimmer PVA to add detail.

Well, I hope you liked my project. Everything I used, except the cardstock which was from my own collection, can be found in the shop.

The Graphic 45 City Scapes paper collection and stamps - 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/city-scapes-698-c.asp

The Kraft card and plenty of other cardstock - 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cardstock-57-c.asp

inks - 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/ink-pads-84-c.asp

Cosmic Shimmer PVA - 

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-pastel-pva-ivory-22781-p.asp

There are so many wonderful papers in this collection, I have a cunning plan for the rest.

Baby tag toy

We met our new Great Nephew Alexander last week and very cute he is too. Of course as a complacently addicted crafter I saw it as an excuse to make something just for him.

 I decided to design and make him a tag toy. As a trained Nanny and with lots of Nephews, Nieces as well as Great Nephews I know how much babies and toddlers love labels and tags so this would be just the right gift to make.

   I knew it was going to be a boy, so I decided on a rocket shape. I designed the pattern, bought the material, teether and crackle plastic and got to work.

The fins or wings as well as the rocket flames have the crackle plastic inside. The star teether has a pocket to live in with a felt star on it.

The tags are made with ribbon and on the back it is a soft fleece with embossed spots on. So lots of textures for Alexander to feel and explore. All of it was baby safe and machine washable.

It was great fun to design and make and I am really pleased with how well it turned out.

Before we met him in person his Dad sent us some photos. My Mother in law is in her 80's and doesn't do digital so I made her a little photo book cut out on my Silhouette Cameo, so she could see the photos and keep it as a keepsake. She was really pleased with it.

Of course I also had to make a baby card and a gift bag for his present too.

This was made on my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine and can be found in the design store.

The gift tag was made using the ship from the card and just enlarged and a mat cut for it. The strip across the gift bag is also cut on the Cameo too.