Here’s a quick vid on a mini-album I created today.  If interested, it’s for sale at my NEW Etsy shop:  SweetBiscuitGirl.etsy.com

I hope 2010 is the best year ever, for you!

Today I spent a little time making a new magnetic wall-board for my new craft room.  Here’s the vid of it:

I started off with an old cookie sheet which I brushed with copper colored dabber paint along the edges that wouldn’t be covered with paper.  Then I added the paper, some ribbon, and made a few coordinating paper flowers with magnets on the backs of them.  It was easy peasy!  More importantly, I love it!  It really brightens up my new craft room!

Until next time…

G

So I’ve mentioned Tim Holtz’ 12 Tags of Christmas here a time or two and am finally getting around to posting a picture of the twelve tags that I made from inspiration taken from his tags.  Here’s the pic –

The first tag, on the upper left corner of the photo has paper flowers that I “grunged” up with Tim’s Distress Inks, and the reindeer were stamped and embossed on Tim’s Grungeboard.  Then I inked up the Grungeboard with Distress Ink to give it the background color.

The second tag, next to the first, is actually the first tag I did for the 12 days.  It also has a Grungeboard snowman, that was painted first with a paint dabber in white, then stamped with the snowman image and cut out.

The third tag again utilizes Tim’s Distress Inks, as well as heat embossing, and Stickles!  Love those Stickles!

The fourth tag used vellum stamped with a large script-style stamp as the background.  Again, the image (lamppost) is stamped on Tim’s Grungeboard.

Tag 5 (2nd row, left) is probably my favorite tag out of the bunch.  It uses Tim’s filmstrip along the left side where I placed teensy-tiny photos of various Christmas trees inside each frame of the strip.

Tag six uses Tim’s Fragments as ornaments along the top, with stamped images adhered to the back of the plastic fragments with Glossy Accents.

Tag 7 (tilt your head to the side, girls) also uses Grungeboard, like so many of these tags, but for this one I covered the image with red and white Flower Soft product (gasp! not something of Tim’s)

Tag eight uses alcohol inks and applicators on glossy cardstock.  That’s the key to create these colorful plaid backgrounds with ease!

Tag nine (bottom left) uses various distress inks on the tag itself, but the real focal point is the little ‘house’ on the chain. That was created by using Ranger’s Memory Glass and Frames.  The rooftop?  It’s made with one of Tim’s metal corners. How cool is that?

Tag ten is fairly simple, but uses Perfect Pearls mixed with water and then splattered onto the stamped tag to give it a little bit of ‘zing’.

Tag eleven was time consuming, but oh such results!  This one uses a grungepaper flower, made by little old me!  You can bet this won’t be the last flower I make like this!

Finally, tag twelve uses the alcohol inks again, but this time with a thin metal burnished over Grungeboard letters. Pretty neat!

You can find the inspirations to these tags at Tim’s blog —  http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/12-tags-of-christmas-2009/

And to you too, of course!  But…WOW!  What a day!

Some of you may already know that I was in a bad car accident last week and my car was totaled.  Well, today…late in the day…I received a phone call from my insurance carrier and they had settled my claim.  And I was able to receive my check this afternoon!

So, since the check was more than what I owed on the car, I felt like I could spend a little money on myself, guilt-free.  And just in time for Christmas!

*shakes head*  I think I might have gone overboard a bit.  But oh, it was so much fun!  Anyhow, be on the lookout over the next couple of weeks for a few more haul vids than you’re used to seeing from me.

And, in the next day or so, I’ll be putting up a really short vid of a Christmas pressie that a friend gave me.  It’s just way too cute (but not craft related…sorry!)!  I’ll also be doing a vid on the tags I created during Tim Holtz’ 12 Tags of Christmas.  And I haven’t forgotten about making a vid of my new craft room.  It’s still a work in progress, though.  I hope to make great progress in that area over the holiday.

Stay tuned and Merry Christmas to all!!!!!!!

I’ve posted a new Michael’s Haul vid on my YouTube channel.

i put all the names of those of you who left a comment in my RAK post in a hat and pulled out one! may i have a drumroll please…….

and the winner is: LISA!

who said:  ”This line would be great for scrapping all those photos from the pavilions at Disney World’s Epcot. I can’t tell you how long I searched for perfect papers and stickers after our first trip there…I SO wish this line had been available then! In fact, I’m going to pick up a set for our most recent trip there – I have no shortage of photos to use with them. Thanks for the opportunity to win!”

congratulations lisa! i loved your idea for the papers too, that is a FABULOUS idea! i’ll be shipping your papers out to you soon!

thank all of you for playing along, you gals posted a lot of great ideas for the line. i hope you will get to work on your entry, or finish up your entry for the Reminisce Dream Travel Contest, that 1000.00 prize is a DOOZEY! and you still have until jan 8th to get your entry in!

and good luck to all of you who are trying out for the REMINISCE DESIGN TEAM SEARCH! submissions have to be in by midnight tonight!

and, for those of you who were wondering… i am sorry that i didn’t announce the winner of my RAK on the 18th as i had planned. i had a car accident on thursday – i’m fine, but was a little shaken up. so i forgot ALL about it until today! my apologies!

“Martha” helped me with my cards…

Have you been playing along with Tim Holtz and creating your versions of his daily tags during the past 12 days?  Well, I have!  I’ve still got a couple to make (hopefully tomorrow) before I’ll have the full set complete, but let me tell you it’s been a blast!  He is SO creative!  I can’t wait to share with you my adaptations of his designs.  Coming soon!!!

last week, REMINISCE featured projects from the design team using the SANTA’S WORKSHOP line. if you are still in need of some holiday decor to “deck your halls”, then you may want to check out the REMINISCE BLOG.

my project was a little decor piece:

the other designers have done a mini album, a luminere, and a holiday wreath. all the projects include the directions!

so break out those supplies and get crafty!

my son took pictures with santa at his school a few weeks ago…

i KNEW they were coming up, but for some reason, i was a week off with the dates. i had to RACE to the store to find him a christmas outfit so he wouldn’t have to sit on santa’s knee in his school uniform!

the photos came out nice though, and i was anxious to use it on a layout. i worked on it during the retreat at SB911 last weekend. i must have pulled 25 papers, i tried this, and that, and this and that, and that and this – but nothing was working. i think i was trying to hard. i wanted to do something REALLY special, and i think THAT was the problem. my scrapp’n gals tinka and charlotte gave me some suggestions and i ended up abandoning my “artsy” approach for something simpler, and i amd happy with how it turned out – see what you think…

i didn’t note all the supplies and names, since i was working on my PERSONAL scrapbooking! lol! but the printed kraft cardstock background is from jillibean soup, the red paper is from fibermark,  the “dear santa” paper is from webster’s pages, the reindeer felt is from queen and company and the numbers are thickers.

i am going to have chris write his letter to santa on the layout. i think it will be a cute momento.

well, i don’t know how much more i’ll be posting this year, a few more at least! things are getting REALLY busy, as i’m sure they are for everyone – so i’m SURE you guys won’t have as much time to read blogs either – so it’ll work out! LOL!

I didn’t have any envelopes to send a card today so (of course) I made my own.  I had a big card envelope lying around (the flap became permanantly stuck to it during a humid stretch this summer).  I dismantled it and traced around it on a big piece of paper in my scrapbooking paper bin.  I folded it ip and glued it together. It’s not perfect but the receiver will not notice because the paper is so pretty !

i wanted a share a quick and easy to make little gift bag that you can whip up to tuck that special gift in… 

i used papers and ephemera by HARLEE-QUINNZ, stamps by MY SENTIMENTS EXACTLY, inks by CLEARSNAP, cardstock from PRISM, flowers from IMAGINISCE, chipboard glitter letters from AMERICAN CRAFTS and vintage trims from my stash!

i started with a piece of the COWGIRLS ephemera; the wanted poster was just asking to be filled in, and the cowgirl looked so “christmas-ey” in her green shirt and red boots! i stamped “gifts” under “wanted” on the poster using dark brown chalk ink. then i took a piece of the LUCKY STRIPE printed paper and used Smooch accent ink in Siren to color the darker stripes red creating a “peppermint” effect. i adhered the ephemera piece over the paper at a angle and cut out leaving about 1″ around all sides. then i tore around the edges, inked them with dark brown chalk ink and adhered it to a piece of kraft cardstock; which was also inked around the edges. i added some vintage sequin trim around the ephemera piece, and some ribbon and pom trim along the bottom. then i added 3 velvet flowers with black button centers and the word “shop” in some glittery silver letters. the piece was then ready to be adhered to the gift bag. i removed the cord handles from the bag and inserted 3 pieces of twine through the holes, bringing them to the front to tie in a bow. a piece of vintage tinsel to hold a tiny bell at the center of the bow added the finishing touch.

well, really i was walking down the aisle of my local mike’s when i found a little wood snowflake set that i thought would be PERFECT for me to  alter!

i decided to try my Smooch Spritzes out on them and was VERY happy with the result! the spritzes covered the wood very well and the colors were SO vivid and SO shimmery! and not that the snowflakes really needed any more  “bling”, but it IS the season to “bling-it-up”, so i reached for some glitter.

i took photos while i worked on the project, so you can see some step-by-steps in the slideshow below. as a “bonus”, since we are ALL busy and multi-tasking is essential… if you lay you snowflakes on a piece of white cardtsock while you spray them, you’ll be left with a BEAUTIFUL negative of them to use for a card or to decorate a gift bag!

!!!

here is a photo of the finished project and a list of the supplies used:   

Supplies: Michael’s: wood snowflake set, CLEARSNAP: Smooch Spritz: Frosted Grape, Silver Foil and Electric Blue and Winter Frost: Glitter, Deco Art: Triple Thick Crystal Clear Glaze {formarly made by Krylon}, Creative Impressions: Bead Chain and foam brushes.

if you have created something special for the holidays please send a pic of it to me; i’d love to see it!

TFL!

are you overwhelmed by the number of sprays, spritzes and mists that are out there for you to use on your paper projects?

do you wonder which product would be best to use on YOUR project?

do you just want to know what’s the difference between them?

well… i’m hoping i can help you out a bit with my side-by-side comparisons of 3 of the most popular products out there: SMOOCH SPRITZ, MAYA MIST and GLIMMER MIST.

Smooch Spritz, made by CLEARSNAP is the newest “spray” -type product to be introduced… the colors are very vibrant and deep, and you get a lot of coverage and color with each spritz. each one also has plenty of bling and shimmer too and they come in small glass bottles that make it easy to tuck them in with your “transportable” supplies for crops and such.

Maya Mist , made by MAYA ROAD, is another spray that gives a nice application of color. is is really good on chipboard. the sprays come mostly in a matte finish, but there are a few metallics, as well as sprays in metallics and irridescent colors that you can layer over the matte colors. they come in plastic bottles about the size of an acrylic paint bottle.

Glimmer Mist, made by TATTERED ANGELS,  provides your project with a fine layer of shimmer and a kiss of color. these mists are the sheerest of all 3 sprays. these sprays are good for your vintage-inspired projects when you want a “shabby chic” look.

for my comparisons, i selected an assortment of paper products to test: a manilla tag, white cardstock, text weight printed paper, chipboard and a white paper flower. i sprayed three sets of these supplies using Smooch Spritz in Emerald Sprinkle, Maya Mist in pink and Glimmer Mist in Walnut Gold.  

i wanted to see how well the mists performed in these areas: coverage, color and ease of use. i also wanted to see if i had trouble with the sprayers or warping of the materials.

here’s photos of the tests:

!!!

i found that the Smooch Spritzes and Maya Mists gave the most even coverage, with the Smooch Spritz having the advantage of a more vivid color. the Glimmer Mists can “spit” a bit, but i think that adds to the “shabby” appeal. all 3 were pretty easy to use, and i didn’t have any trouble with clogging.

the cardstock and printed papers sprayed with Smooch Spritz stayed the flattest, both when they were wet and dry. the papers sprayed with Maya Mist curled a bit, but didn’t really warp, the papers sprayed with Glimmer Mist warped.  

each of these products has +’s and -’s… it all depends on what your project is and what effect you want.  if you want color, coverage and shimmer in a portable package – then try Smooch Spritz, if you want a matte finish, try Maya Road, and if you want a ditressed “kissed by angels” look, then try glimmer mist.

i hope this little demo has helped answer SOME of your questions!

if you have more, drop me a line and i’ll try my best to find you an answer!

that’s right ONE THOUSAND SMACK-A-ROONIES!

REMINISCE is having their BIGGEST contest ever to celebrate their brand new HUGE, GIGANTIC, GLOBE-TROTTING new travel line PASSPORTS!

i told you about the PASSPORTS line in a previous post, where i included my projects using the line {click HERE to review that post}. now let me tell you all about the CONTEST!  you can get all the details on the REMINISCE BLOG, but here is an overview of the REMINISCE 1000.00 DREAM TRAVEL CONTEST: use the Passports line to create an album of YOUR dream vacation. it can be places you’ve been OR places you DREAM of visiting.  you must use at least 10 PASSPORT destinations in your book – it MUST be in album format, but can be any size you choose! The deadline is JANUARY 8th, so get over to the blog and get the FULL DETAILS so you can get started on your project!

RAK time!!!

!!!

to give the contest an added little “kickoff”, i’m going to give away a sampler pack of the PASSPORTS line! you’ll get 15 papers and 15 stickers from the line! destinations include: NYC, Italy, Barcelona, France, England, Ireland, Spain, America, Brazil, Hawaii, Switzerland, Venice, Jamaica, Paris and Australia. so you have a chance to win the supplies needed to make your entry! to enter MY RAK, all you have to do is POST A COMMENT below {you must comment on THIS post} listing a project or page that you think this line would be perfect for. it could be a layout using vacation photos and one of the destinations, or a project or layout that uses several destinations like my international recipe binder. BE SURE to add your name in the post! i’ll post the name of the winner on DECEMBER 18th! — u.s. only please!

REMINISCE is also looking for another design team member – and it could be YOU! check out the details HERE! and be sure to check out AND bookmark the REMINISCE BLOG  as they will be featuring several Christmas and Holiday themed projects by the design team this week.

and one small favor… the Scrapbooks Etc Cover Contest is coming to a close, it’s down to the last 12 days… it ends on december 15th. i would APPRECIATE it greatly if you would vote for my son, Chris! you can review all the details HERE!

good luck everyone!

              I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Survived the Black friday Shopping Frenzy! After Thanksgiving. Time seems to move at breakneck speed.  And it doesn’t seem to slow down until after January.

Mojo Monday 114 Cold & Cuddly Penguin

Mojo Monday 114 & Christmas Punch Snowman

Mojo Monday 114 With Cold & Cuddly

I used two Stampin’ Up! stamp sets, Christmas Punch and Cold & Cuddly.  both of them are really fun sets.

Thanks so much for stopping by and taking a look!

Don’t forget Stampin’ Up! Is having a huge sale . If you don’t already have a demonstrator . You can browse through all the the great deals on my on line website 

Click Here and then click on shop now .

My sick car is mended (hurrah)! This week has ended on a high. Yesterday I spent a few hours preparing food as we had some friends over. I took a risk and tried a new recipe from Nigella’s ‘Feast’ book. It was a Tunisian meatball dish and apart from a dodgy sweded (thanks Sainsburys!) we had a great time. My friend lent me her Mums tagine and it worked out well (genuine thanks Nigella!).

I also achieved something I’ve wanted to do for years; recreate a dessert that a coffee shop I used to work at in Colchester called ‘Poppy’s’ used to sell. It is a layered meringue with a lemon curd and cream filling. I didnt quite get it exactly right but it all got eaten!!

I’ve got a Stampin’Up! party tonight . The hostess is a lovely girl from my childrens school and it should be a great night. We’re doing simple Christmas cards and it’ll be great to have a chilled evening after a hectic week. The piccy is of a covered chocolate bar as a prize for the evening. I just love the ribbon. I could tie it on everything! The cute ladybird and ‘be happy’ is from a hostess set called Darling Dots, that my friend may well get tonight. I’m happy to take party bookings over the phone, so dont hesistate to give me a ring!

I’m also planning a series of craft classes in the New Year. A couple of people have asked about them, so I’ll take the plunge and get organised.They’ll be in Liverpool and as soon as I’ve sorted the schedule, I’ll let you all know! Talking about new things I have had some projects featured in Crafts Beautiful in their Christmas special and I’ve got more coming up in the January and February issue. Its very exciting and I love a good challenge so its right up my street!

Well, I’d better make tracks! Thanks for looking!

Recipe, Cardstock on the tag- Real red and So Saffron.

So Saffron ribbon, Versamark and clear embossing powder (all from Stampin’Up!)

Textured cardstock and patterned paper from my stash!

since it IS the season for thanks… i have a little “thank you” card to share!

i wanted the colors of the card to “seasonal”, but still soft and pretty, so i chose to use yellows and oranges with just a touch of brown to add some contrast…

!!!

I started with a muted orange cardstock for the card, then added a warm brown block as a backdrop for the rest of my elements.

Then i took a square of plain white cardstock and lightly sprayed it with SMOOCH SPRITZ in GOLD GLOW, then i used an ANTIQUE BROCADE STAMP inked with ANCIENT PAGE ink in SUNBURST to create the background block for the card.

Next, I sprayed another piece of white cardstock with the GOLD GLOW spritz, and stamped 2 “wood grain” flowers and 3 “thank you print” flowers from the PRINTED FLOWERS set using the SUNBURST ink.  Then i stamped 2 “solid thank you” flowers and 1 “large thank you” flower from the same set onto white cardstock using YELLOW OCHRE FLUID CHALK INK. when the ink dried, i spritzed them lightly with the GOLD GLOW spritz. when all the inks and spritz had dried, i cut out the background and the flowers.

I added the background piece first and topped it with a piece of ribbon near the bottom. i then arranged and adhered all the flowers, having the large “thank you” flower at the lower right.

buttons at the centers finished off the design.

inks and spritzes are all by CLEARSNAP, stamps are by HERO ARTS.

Every year, since I started to scrapbook, I have always gotten creative and made our Christmas cards. And since I only make them for family and close friends I don’t have to worry about making dozens of them for people who might only look at them and then store them away. I try to avoid thinking about my pretty little cards in the trash amongst an abundance of wrapping paper, tape, or fruitcakes.

But this year I wanted to keep it simple because, really, do I need to make two dozen? I certainly don’t. While Scout was painting with her new Crayola washable paints I started making a mess with some scrapbook paper, brads, buttons, glue, distress ink, stamps…

and came up with this.

So even if I can’t afford forty four cents for every person who comments or for every person whose blog I read, I’m giving you holiday wishes via my blog. You may not get it in your mail but you can always look at it on your computer. I think that’s just as good. Don’t you?

have you ever wished you could find paper and stickers for a special trip you took – to a city, an area, a state, how about a country?

well wish no more! REMINISCE has just introduced a new line called PASSPORTS. there are 72 – that is SEVENTY TWO different destinations included in this line! each destination has it’s own two-sided paper and matching sticker sheet.

here’s a layout i did using the CHICAGO paper and stickers…

to create the skyline at the bottom of the layout, i used a craft knife to carefully cut out the skyline on the blue side of the double sided CHICAGO paper. then i backed the space with white cardstock.  I mounted the cut out skyline on a piece of white cardstock and cut it out again, then outlined it using a white gel pen. It has been adhered to the layout using 3D Dots. I moved it down and to the right of where it had been on the paper to create a “shadow” effect.

and, if you don’t happen to travel much, don’t worry, you can still think of fun ways to use this line! we love lots of different ethnic foods, so i decided to create an INTERNATIONAL RECIPE BINDER for some of my favorite recipes. i used the CHINA, INDIA, MEXICO, ITALY, FRANCE and SPAIN papers and stickers…

!!!

want more ideas for this line? then head over to the REMINISCE GALLERY and see more projects from the reminisce design team!

want even MORE ideas? then check out the REMINISCE BLOG,  there are some more awesome ideas there too!

I finally got to play a little yesterday- what with all this rain and feeling a little under the weather myself, I got out my inks and sponges. I thought I’d share the subsequent result and give a quick idea of how to do it. I discovered that the Whisper White cardstock is pretty good for getting effects- even when you’re trying to get subtle ones.

What you’ll need-

Old Olive, Ballet Blue and Whisper White cardstock

Leaf (from Darling Dots) & Sentiment (from Wow Flowers)

Taffeta ribbon, Mellow moss, Bashful Blue and Always Artichoke ink . Sponges and scrap paper.

White and clear embossing powder.

Draw a curve on some scrap paper which is the same width as your cardstock (mines about A5 size), and cut along the line but leaving one end attached.

Get a sponge- you can get specialist foam on handles for the job but a cheap pack of make-up sponges does the job. When preparing to sponge the ink, don’t hold it like the pic on the left or you’ll end up with hard edges – you need to fold the sponge like in the right hand pic so the surface is rounded. 

Pick up a small amount of  ink and starting from just off the edge of the cardstock, using a circular motion, rub towards the cardstock and gradually onto it. This way, it creates a softer effect. If the colour isnt strong enough, you can always keep adding but once the ink is on too strong- you can’t remove it!  Before you start doing this- put the mask you’ve made with the scrap paper on top of the cardstock.

Fold the mask to the side so the top is isolated and you are going to be sponging beneath the curve to create the grassy hill. Using mellow moss, use a circular motion- its not a precise science and don’t be afraid to experiment before you start. Don’t completely fill the space with colour as the white helps give contrast and texture. The picture on the right shows the finished effect.

Fold the mask the other way, so that the sponged grass is covered and then do the ’sky’ using the same motion; starting from just off the edge of the cardstock and circling onto it using the Bashful Blue ink.

The pic on the right shows the finished sponging. Some of it will be covered by cardstock but try to keep the bottom free from ink as it looks better with a clean white edge on the bottom of the card!

Using the leaf (which makes a really cute tree!) Stamp with Always Artichoke ink. If you are really quick with the clear embossing powder, you can heat emboss them to get the beautiful shiny effect. I arranged them as on the right and put one on 3D foam to give dimension.

All you need to do now is emboss the sentiment using white embossing powder on a piece of Old Olive cardstock the same width as the cardstock. Add a knotted piece of grey taffeta ribbon and attach the piece to a folded blank using Ballet Blue cardstock.  Easy Peasy ! Even my hubby liked this one- which is saying something!!

Oh, and the silver linings- well I’ve been ill a couple of times this month- which apart from being yucky and inconvenient means that I’ve lost a good deal of weight! A stone plus some!! Thats great and means I can approach the coming month with a little less caution (yipppeeee!-Green and Blacks, here I come!!). The other silver lining is about being grateful and having a day or two rest from the school run. The Landrover is broke- sick, poorly and feeling very sorry for itself. It’s still languishing in the Landrover garage as I write which makes ferrying our 5 children to school somewhat complicated when our other car cannot fit them all in!! BUT, I can’t do the school run therefore, and so with some help from friends and family I’ve got to stay at home with Will. For those of you that do the school run day in and day out, you’ll be with me in appreciating a break (albeit small!) from it. I’m grateful for having a car that usually works and I’m also grateful for silver linings- but sometimes you just have to look that little bit harder to find them!

See you soon- keep getting messy ! xxx

Card recipe- as above. All supplies from Stampin’Up!- Go on, call me- you know you’d like to have to a go at this!!

Sandra, over at Add Humor and Faith was asking about altered books. I’ll bet they’ve been around a long, long time on an individual basis (when people wouldn’t have access to a blank book or fresh paper, etc…) but I’ve only known about them for the past 4 or 5 years. It’s a particular niche in the crafting/art world. Actually, the scrapbook/craft type are more to my liking because the art ones get weird really fast.

It was not easy for me to start making them because I’m such a book lover; rarely have I even written in my own books (the big exception is my Bible where I make lots of notes) and the horror of painting or gluing in one was hard to overcome. But I did.

And still, I’m pretty selective about the ones I’ll use for a project. It has to be one that I don’t think I’ll ever read, one that I really disliked or one that no one else would want – for instance, even if I donated it to the library, they would probably end up sending it to the paper recycler because it wouldn’t sell. The sources are almost unlimited. Our younger son had a huge stack of mathematics magazines that he didn’t want; instead of regular slick pages these have the book type pages and are just right for this craft.

The project from my previous post is in one of these magazines, and I also used one for a round robin that was just between my sister and me. I use cardboard from a cereal box to stiffen the soft covers, then decorate them with fabric or something else.

Sometimes crafters will buy a buy a book (hopefully a secondhand one – I can hardly stand the thought of a new book going straight to altering!) that’s in the same theme as their subject. For instance, using a gardening one when their subject is flowers, or an old cookbook for recipes, etc… That looks pretty clever when finished, and I’ve gathered a few to do that sort of thing, but haven’t started them, yet. Also, really unconventional materials are used and are nearly limitless, like paper sacks, or sewing fabric pages; children’s board books are good but not as versatile.

In a Round Robin, each person chooses their own theme and sets the rules for working in their book. They do their own cover and two pages, then pass it on to the next person (who passes theirs on, etc.). Normally each contributor would only do 2 pages in another person’s book (like my sister’s paper doll book), but since she and I were the only ones involved we passed ours back and forth several times.

She allowed me to set up the overall rule that this project was to be unconventional in the sense that nothing could be used that was bought specifically for paper crafting and we should use as much stuff as we could that had cost nothing at all- or at least had not been bought new. I wanted to see just how creative we could be. There are incredibly wonderful products on the market (and my sister has lots of them) but I wanted to see what we could do with our imaginations. She talked me into altering the rule to include one new product per page. Yes, I know I’m cheap thrifty.

It was a lot of fun.

Her theme was Tranquility; mine was Cats and Cups. All the photos in this post are of her book. Mine will be in a future post.

She used old file folders cut down to make her pages and key rings to bind it. Her cover (seen at the top of this post) was fabric from a drapery sample book (Thank you, Pat Fischer. Pat is my friend who gave me those wonderful, out-of-date books from her shop Ruffles and Things and I shared with Fran. Also, the background floral on the page below is one I got from a sample book). We used magazine pictures, church bulletin covers, used postage stamps, scraps of fabric, hand painting, journaling, ribbon, buttons, counted cross-stitch, embroidery, both watercolors and acrylic paint, the interior of security envelopes, old trumpet music (from the library sale), a few rubber stamps; and even more. Most of the stuff we used would make a traditional scrapbooker head to the fainting couch – almost none of it was acid free. We aren’t worrying about that. This is for us, not posterity; our inheritors are probably not interested.

For these 2 pages, I started by gluing down (I use glue sticks) pages from an old novel, then painting them yellow and green to match the cut-outs I was going to use. Then I painted a border around both pages to repeat the border in the cut-out. Using a pair of decorative scissors and a hole punch, I made the paper lace to go under the fireplace picture (which I had glued in). Using watercolors, I painted a little house, a bunch of flowers and little yellow hearts. For added dimension I wanted them to be a little thicker, so I made my own chipboard pieces by gluing them onto the cereal boxes, then cut them out and sanded the edges. The little house had a hole punched in the top and threaded with pearl embroidery cotton to hang on the binder ring.

I love books and it’s fun making my own. It can be about anything I want it to be. My efforts won’t ever be featured in Cloth, Paper, Scissors or a Stampington magazine, but I really enjoy it, it costs almost nothing and as they say, it’s cheaper than therapy.

Linked to:
Frugal Friday on Life as Mom.

Promise, promise, promise to do a non-Christmassy card next. I have been so immersed in prep work (or should I say ‘playing’ ) for Christmas that I’ve done little else.

Other colours are calling me-am loving the real red and so saffron combo at the moment. I’ve been playing with the Darling Dots hostess set and really am taken with it. I’ll post some little tags I’ve been making soon. I have my littliests birthday on Thursday but its going to start on Wednesday and finish Saturday!- how’s that for a celebration!! I’m not doing anything big- just a family tea- but the excitement of the other 4 brothers and sisters will be quite enough!! The kids wanted me to bake a Peppa and George Pig cake buuut I’m not sure he’ll appreciate it. So I’ll be doing a Baker tradition and making what is lovingly known as a ‘Bogtrotter’ cake. Remember Matilda by Roald Dahl? Cast your minds eye back to the scene with Bruce Bogtrotter and Mrs Trunchbull. She makes him eat a gi-enormous chocolate cake baked with blood and sweat as a punishment for stealing some of her cake. Ok, we left out the blood and sweat and aimed for a big cake with chocolate sweets and glitter!! You can’t see the glitter but you get the picture!! Another family tradition that we get requests for on a regular basis!!

PS- just realised- there’s reindeer poop on the chocolate cake- euugghhh!

Reindeer poop recipe; Cardstock, whisper white, old olive, close to cocoa and real red.

Stamp set, Season of  Joy (snowflake). Quickutz diecut reindeer.

Thanks for stopping by! xx

I’m sorry- I know you’re probably wondering how one girl can make sooo much Christmas stuff. BUT we are sort of getting ready (ermm-said hesitantly!!) and isn’t this fabulous worldwide web about sharing ideas?!!

I’d mentioned a little while back about preparing for an event where people were going to pool ideas and resources for cutting down the cost of Christmas and making it more meaningful. I had to do a table based around packaging gifts! So much fun and it got me thinking about why I give certain kinds of gifts and it really should be a token of your love and friendship not an concerted effort to impress them! So as you’ve probably guessed by now, I’m making a fair deal of stuff!

Surprisingly my kids want me to make lots of them for their friends. I say it with a slightly incredulous expression simply because normally they want to send keyrings or lip gloss etc!! I reckon the whole handmade thing is starting to capture their imagination a little and plus, they are pretty unique gifts and were a real talking point at the event on Thursday. These little shiny wrapped tokens are a little gift of table name cards. It’s the sort of thing I’m thinking about a week before Christmas so thats one step ahead of the game!!

I love the faux stitched look- so with my white pen and a bit of diecutting,- a simple but striking name holder. Just need to get my calligraphy pens out to complete them. While we’re talking about ideas- I had an email recently from a lovely person wondering if she could use a card for a workshop she was doing. Stampin’Up! have a great phrase called ‘CASEing’,- Copy And Share Everything! There are really not that many truly original ideas and we all get inspired by others, so you’re welcome to any of these ideas- just please don’t claim them entirely as your own!!!!

I’m just contacting all my lovely customers with a great idea called A Wish List. I know most of you will be familiar with it. Despite me talking about cutting dwn the cost of Christmas, we were also thinking about the cost of unwanted presents- it was something staggering into the £billions. For many of us crafters, we love craft goodies for presents but sometimes family and friends aren’t really sure what our tastes are?!! So- if you, or family and friends want to contact me – I can store a personal wish list for you and people wanting to buy pressies for you, can get in touch and pick something off your list. I can be paid by cheque or Paypal and can send the gift straight out to the family member and friend. Sounds good?- get in touch (0151 2289946 or kerenjb@hotmail.co.uk)!! I have a bit of a beginners stampin’ Up! target to reach, so any orders would be very welcome!!!!

I’ll have Reindeer Poop coming up on a future post- so those of you with a nervous disposition- be ready!! I’m doing some fun crafting tonight- have a magazine project to get finished. Aaaahh- deadlines!!!

Thanks for looking and happy creating xx

Recipe, Real Red and Glorious Green cardstock. (diecut with Quickutz holly die). holly leaves edged with Handsome Hunter ink. (all Stampin’Up!)

Sentiment Stamp from Season Of Joy. (stamped with Basic Black). Leaves edged with white Signo Gel Pel (from SU). Patterned paper cut with stampin’Up! scalloped punch and berries decorated with some tiny gems from my stash!