Christmas Cards

I have been busy making a few Christmas cards because it is that time of the year and I am not really prepared. I always seem to leave Christmas cards to the last minute.

I have got so much Christmas "stuff" that I decided to use only what I have got and not go out and buy the latest collections.

These are the 7 I have made so far. They are all pretty simple.

This one is the simplest of them all. I have made a panel using some Kaisercraft Rub-Ons from the Christmas Carnival collection from a few years ago. The  Ho Ho Ho is cut from gold cardstock using Sizzlits Cherish Alphabet dies. I have then mounted the panel on some cardboard and attached it to a white card base.

I have cut the owl bauble out of some Kaisercraft paper using my Scan N Cut and a free cut file from Brother. A piece of thin red ribbon has been threaded through the hole of the bauble and then the bauble and the ribbon have been attached to a white cardstock panel.  The greeting was cut from a sheet of Creative Imaginations patterned paper and mounted on a piece of red cardstock that is the same as the card base. This was then foam mounted and attached to the panel. The panel has then been attached to a piece of cardboard and attached to a red card base.

I embossed this Christmas tree onto some white cardstock (I don't know the brand of the embossing folder) added a star brad and some red ribbon. This was attached to a piece of patterned paper with foam mounting tape and the the patterned paper was attached to the red card base.

To make the baubles for this card i stamped the music notes onto a piece of white cardstock then covered the cardstock with Matt Gell Medium and sprinkled glitter all over it and set it aside to dry.
When it was dry I used my circle dies to cut two different sized circles from the treated cardstock. I then cut some slightly larger circle out of gold cardstock to matt the circles and made a little "thing" on the top to look like the bit that holds the ribbon.

I took a piece of white cardstock 1/2" smaller than my card base and embossed it with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. This was also matted with gold cardstock.

The greeting was printed from my computer and mounted on gold cardstock.

To assemble the card I attached the gold ribbon to the embossed panel, foam mounted the baubles  and the greeting. Then I attached the white panel to the gold panel and then attached the whole thing to the white card base.

For this card I have embossed a white panel with a Cuttlebug embossing folder. We live in Australia and never have snow at Christmas so I very really use snow related embellishments on my Christmas cards but I had the folder so I thought I would use it.

I wrapped a piece of ribbon around the panel a couple of time and then used foam tape to attached a couple of Christmas Trees that I had cut from a sheet of patterned paper that I have had for ages and can't remember the manufacturer.

Once again a white cardstock panel was embossed. This time I used Papermania's Baubles embossing folder.  A greeting that I had printed was attached to a red matt and attached using foam tape. The panel was attached to a piece of cardboard and then attached to the red card base.

For the last card today I cut panel of red cardstock and embossed at the top and bottom using two different folders from the Papermania Christmas Borders embossing set. I then cut out and embossed the parcel using Cuttlebug's Beautifully boxed set of embossing folders and die. I cut this twice, once in patterned paper and once in gold cardstock so I could make the bow a different colour. The greeting is once again something I printed out and attached to a piece of gold cardstock.

Both the greeting and the parcel were foam mounted on the red panel, which was then attached to the white card base.

Well that is a very long post.
Thank you for getting all the way through it.

Till next time
Hugs
Julie

Addie and Arthur Virgo Layout

Hi everyone

Sharing a DT project that I made for a challenge over at Creative Inspiration here

The challenge is to create a layout using at least 5 layers. This is what I created

The photo is of my paternal grand parents at their son's wedding in 1953. Just love the photo.

Layers are one of the easy, go to techniques I use very often. They look great weather it is a vintage layout or a modern layout and just add so much interest.

I have use some Texture Paste that I coloured with acrylic paint through a stencil on the background. The paper range is Ooh La La by Kaisercraft. I have added lace and medical gauze that I coloured with Glimmermist. The flower is hand made using Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die.

Why not pop over to Creative Inspiration and check it out.

Till next time
Hugs
Julie

Art Journal Page Step by Step for Off The Rails Scrapbooking

Hi there

Today I am sharing a "How to" over at Off The Rails Scrapbooking.

You can check it out here.

This is the page

I really had fun making this.

I find that my interest in Art Journalling is growing and I just love the variety of techniques that are waiting to be tried.

I am using a Finnabair Art Journal that I have had for a few years. I have taken the journal apart so it is easier to work on each page and when I have completed all the pages I will re-assemble it.

The pages in it are a kraft colour so I have applied a light coat of Gesso to tone it down.

I then applied some Mont Marte Modelling Paste through TCW's Mini Cubist stencil

When everything was dry I used Distress Ink's and a blending tool to apply Dusty Concord and Broken China to the entire background.

Extra texture for the background was achieved by stamping with Archival Ink and Carabelle Studio's art stamp XXL "Texture Chevron et Quadrillage"

I then watered down some white acrylic paint and added some splatters all over the page.

It is a bit hard to see in this photo but they are there

To create the flowers I took some book paper and coloured them with an assortment of Twinkling H2O's. I used at least 2 shades of each colour and some gold on each of the sheets.

I cut circles in varying sized from the book paper and stuck them to my page using Gel Medium but they faded too much into the background for my liking so I cut more circles from the book paper and corresponding circles from white cardstock to put behind the book paper to make it stand out from the background more.

I attached these with the same Gel Medium. They definitely stood out more but were not really as dark as I would probably have liked.

Outlining the focal points was next. For this I actually used a normal biro. I have done this before and found that it is not waterproof so if you are going to do this be aware of that. This made everything stand out much better.

Now the fun part. Lots of doodling and decorating on the flowers. The white detailing on the flowers is done with a very thick acrylic  (Duncan Scribbles) that I have had in my stash for about 10 years. It is very similar to the Viva Pearl Pen

When I was happy with that I used my Faber Castell Big Brush markers and some water colour paints to add some shading around the flowers and leaves. I used some Gellato's to add a blended border to the page

I added some scribbly details with a Sharpie to the outlines of the flowers and leaves just for a bit of whimsy

 Lastly I added the title with shading.

Hope you have enjoyed my tutorial and I would love to see any pages that this tutorial may have inspired you to make.

Till next time

Hugs

Julie

Design Team layout for Creative Inspirations monthly Sketch

Hi everyone

Thanks for popping by.

Today I am sharing my DT Layout for Creative Inspiration Pop over and check the sketch and the other DT layouts. Try the sketch and see what you can come up with.

My layout is about my grand-daughter having her hair straightened at the hairdressers. She has got beautiful curly hair but was delighted to have straight hair for a couple of days.

The pink background cardstock had the 3 heart shapes punched out of it when I bought it. I backed this area of the cardstock with bright pink cardstock to highlight the punched pattern. I have then added 2 different heart shaped stamps in pink and gold along with a doodled boarder.
The photo is matted on Kaisercraft Lavender Haze patterned paper, velum and mulberry paper. The flowers are made with the same paper and velum cut with a 6 petal flower die and sit on top of a Kaisercraft Floral Lace die cut. A tag cut with Kaisercraft Tag Shapes die holds the journalling that tells the story of the day.  I then splattered some glue onto the layout and attached the pink beads.

The title was cut with Kaisercraft Alphabet Upper Case dies and then coated with Glossy Accents.

This closeup shows the flower construction

This closeup shows the punched detail in the cardstock.

Till next time
Hug
Julie

Off The Rails Scrapbooking November Reveal

Hi there

I am 5 days late with this post but I have been out of mobile reach attending my nephews wedding in Streaky Bay. It was great to catch up with so many family members.

I am sharing my layout for the November Mood Board over at Off The Rails Scrapbooking 

You should pop over and check out the work from all the Design Team.

Here is my layout

This is the mood board. I took the pinks, blues and feminine from this to incorporate into my layout 

Because I am still away from home I can not give you the details of the products used so if you see anything that you would like more detail on please leave a comment and I will answer you when I get home in a day or 2.

Thanks for dropping by

Till next time

Hugs

Julie

Art Journal Page using Metals

Hi there,

I have been wanting to use some metals on an Art Journalling Page for a while now so decided the time had come.

This is what happened

For the background I used Gesso, Texture Paste with a woodgrain stencil, Gyprock (Dry Wall) tape and acrylic paints.

I then stamped with StayzOn black ink and 2 of the stamps in the Stampendous Marks stamp set by Nathalie Kalbach

I then attached all of the metals using Heavy Gel Medium and gave them a coat of Gesso. In hind sight I should have applied the Gesso before I attached them to the page but what the heck.

When everything was dry I coloured the metals with Silks. I also rubbed some Viva Inks Gold here and there on the background and on the metals as I have been itching to use that for a while too.

I used some watercolours to shade a bit behind the metals and some Gelato's to add some darkness to the outside edge of the page to frame it. A Black Texta pen was used to colour the butterflies body and the gems were attached with a hot glue gun.

I was reasonably happy with the page as they are colours I do not usually use so I wanted to try to stretch myself there.

Thanks for dropping by

Till next time

Hugs

Julie

Love You Poppy Layout - Scraplift

Hi there.

Today I am over at Creative Inspiration Forum for the Thursday Scraplift.

Pop over and check it out here

This is my layout

The background is created using Twinkling H2O's. All of the die cut scalloped hearts have been embossed to add some texture. A bit of doodling and some splatters complete the background

 The title is heat embossed chipboard

The layout that this has been scrap lifted from was found on Pinterest


I did not curl my hearts up and I only used one photo but I just love this layout.

Thanks for dropping by
Till next time
Hugs
Julie

Black and White Layout

Good morning

Today I am sharing a layout I did for the Friday Inspiration Challenge over at the Creative Inspiration Forum

The challenge is to do a layout using only black and white, why not pop over and give it a go. Would love to see what you come up with.

For the background I used a cut file on my Scan N Cut to add some interest then layered it on white for a white on white effect.
I have used 4 black and white patterned papers, tearing the edges on some of them.
Kaisercraft Dies to cut the black scribble and all the feathers
Tim Holts film strip, dry wall tape, string and heat embossed chipboard were added to embellish the page.

The title is made from chipboard letters that have been heat embossed with white embossing powder.

The tag behind the photo gives all the details about the photo.

The photo has been raised on a piece of cardboard.

Thanks for dropping by
Till next time
Hugs
Julie

Creative Imagination Magazine

Hello everyone.

It has been a long time between posts but I have just got home from 18 days in China and they do not have Google or Facebook over there. There internet browser is is Chinese (funny that) and I could not use it so have been out of touch for what seems like forever.

Working through my 644 emails I came across the link to the Creative Imagination Magazine which has published quite a few of my layout.

Why not pop over and have a look. It is a great digital magazine that has heaps of inspiration from many scrapbookers, carmakers, art journalisers and off the page projects.

Will be back soon with a layout I did before I went away.

Till next time
Hugs
Julie

3 Flower Art Journal Page

Hello.

It has been a long time between posts as I have been very busy with Design Team work. I have also been busy packing and arranging a trip to China. I leave on Monday and won't be back till the 11th October so I will be missing in action for a short time.

I am really looking forward to this holiday as it is the first time I have been on an organised tour and I am interested to know if I like this type of holiday or not. If I do like it I imagine I will do a couple each year as Ray is not really interested in going on holidays and the tour type of holidays enables me to go without being on my own.

My good friend Wendy is coming with me on this trip so it should be fun.

Anyway back to the art journal page I have got to share with you today.

I did this background so long ago I have forgotten what I used but I can see that I have used acrylic paint, some small burlap flowers that I got from Cheap As Chips, stencil, texture paste, stamping, gesso and a black marker to draw the circles.I coloured some of the circles with white gesso and rubbed some Viva Inka Gold here and there to complete it.

For the focal points I decided to go with some flowers. This is always the hardest part for me, deciding on the focal point.

I cut the flowers and leaves from some paper I had created using Magicals, then stamped over them with Archival inks and random stamps

I did some shading around the flowers with my Faber-Castelle Big Brush markers and some detail work using a black fine point pen and a white gel pen.

The centre of the flowers are Art Ingredient Glass beads and the pearlescent dots on the internal petals are made with Scribbles which are very similar to the Viva Pearl Pens.

Thanks for dropping by
See you in about 3 weeks
Till next time
Hugs
Julie