Aldinga Beach Album

Good morning friends

Today I want to point you in the direction of a video showing a flip through of an album I have made

You can see the video here

I followed a tutorial by Scrapqueen for this album. She has heaps of interactive albums on her YouTube channel. You can see her channel here:- Scrapqueen
My album is not exactly the same as her's, I have made a few changes.

I have called this my "Aldinga Beach Album" because I made it while were doing a house-sit in Aldinga Beach, not because it holds photo's of Aldinga Beach.

I have used approx 50 sheets of 240gsm white A4 cardstock and a 12" x 12" Crafters Choice paper pad called "Pale Garden" to make this album. I could use more the white if I wanted to make more tags, photo mats and photo booklets.
I have 13 full sheets of patterned paper and some scraps from the 48 page pad left.

As you can see it has 4 pages and lots of interactivity.

The front cover is decorated with some large filagree leaves I cut on my Scan N Cut, some purchased flowers and two flowers that I hand made. One was using the Tim Holts Tattered Florals die and the other was using a nested circles die.

It is so hard to show an album in photos so I would really recommend that you pop over to my YouTube channel and check out this album if you have the time.

Thanks for dropping by today
Till next time
Hugs and stay safe
Julie

Mother's Day card 2020

Good morning

Mother's Day is approaching here in Australia and so I am making a card for my Mum today

It is a multi layered card and I have used Kaisercraft's Secret Garden papers and collectables on this card

You can watch the video here.

To make the card bases I have cut three pieces of white cardstock 4" x 9 1/2" and two tags 1 @
3 1/2" x 6" and one 3 1/2" x 5"

The three 9 1/2" pieces of cardstock need to be scored on the long side, one at 1 3/4" from each end, one at 2" from each end and the last one at 2 1/4" from each end

The patterned papers need to be cut at:-
Patterned paper No. 1 - 4 pieces at 1 5/8" x 3 7/8" and 2 pieces at 3/4" x 3 7/8"
Patterned paper No. 2 - 4 pieces at 1 7/8" x 3 7/8" and 2 pieces at 3/4" x 3 7/8"
Patterned paper No. 3 - 4 pieces at 2 1/8" x 3 7/8" and 1 piece 4 7/8" x 3 7/8"
Patterned paper No. 4 - 1 piece 5 7/8" x 3 7/8", this piece goes on the back of the card to hide and protect the ribbon that is used to tie the card closed.

I have inked the edges of all of the patterned papers before attaching them to the card base.

Starting from the inside of the card (the piece that has the score makes at 2 1/4") attach patterned paper No. 3, then patterned paper no 2 to the middle layer and patterned paper no. 1 to the bottom layer.

On the back of the top and middle layers, place double sided tape on the edges and bottom of the middle section (between the score marks). Layer them on top of each other and the bottom layer, making two pockets that will hold the tags.

Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to go around the card and tie a bow (mine is 32" long) attach it to the back centre section of the card using double sided tape. Attach patterned paper No. 4 on top of this.

Add patterned paper to both sides of the tags, you will need two pieces of patterned paper 3 3/8" x 5 7/8" and two 3 3/8" x 4 7/8".
Add an eyelet to each tag and thread some ribbon through it

Now it is time to add your embellishments. I have used some items from the collectables pack, some die cuts that I cut using Spellbinders Labels 8 die, Kaisercraft Polaroid Frame die, a butterfly die, and a stitched tags die.

The photos below show how I have embellished each layer.

I will use the white die cut pieces to write my greeting.

I hope I have encouraged you to give this card a try. I saw the card on Pinterest and thought it would be ideal for what I had in mind. I wanted to include a family photo in my card because, with things as they are at the moment we will not get to see Mum on Mother's Day.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog today.

Till next time
Stay safe
Hugs
Julie

The Pyramids Layout

Good morning,

Today I am sharing a layout. During the creation of this layout I changed my mind several times.

You can view the video on my YouTube channel if you would like to see more detail and exactly how this page came together

To create this layout I have used a Craft Concepts paper pad called Vintage Grunge.

I chose five papers from the pad.

I created a 1" frame using one of the papers (the striped one) for the background.

The next paper was trimmed to 11 1/2" square and torn along one edge.
I used TCW stencil "Two Hearts" and Mont Marte Modelling Paste to add some dimension and white to this paper.

Next I trimmed three patterned papers down to 7" x 12", 6" x 12" and 5" x 12" and tore the 12" edges on them all.

All of these layers were then attached on top of each other using double sided tape.

Using an American Crafts punch I punched along the edge of a piece of patterned paper, I tucked a 6" piece of this behind the bottom layer of the torn papers, at the top right and the bottom left of the layered stack.

The photo I had originally wanted to use on this layout did not suit these papers, in my opinion the whole layout looked too dark for it, so I changed the photos these holiday photos. I matted the photos on a light coloured paper from the pad so they would stand out from the background

The other change of mind was the title. I used my Scan N Cut to cut the title in white cardstock but when I attached it to the layout I felt that it got lost so I cut the same thing in black cardstock and glued that directly on top of the white one.

To embellish the layout I used my stitched diamonds dies to cut three sizes of diamonds from the striped patterned paper, cut them in half so they resembled a pyramid and tucked them into the torn layered papers. With a black pen I drew faux stitching lines on them.

I still wanted to lighten the colour and feel of the page so I tore the edges of some white cardstock and tucked that in at the back of the torn layer stack, both top and bottom and at the top of the page where the background paper was attached to the background frame.

I know that that may sound a little confusing so I would encourage you to check out the video, if you are anything like me it is much easier to follow instructions if you can see it being done instead of just reading them.

Thank you for spending part of your day here with me today.

Till next time
Stay safe
Hugs
Julie

Flightless Art Journal Page

Good morning,

Today's share is an art journal page featuring an Emu head. I have chosen the emu because it is a flightless bird, a bit like all at the moment with the Covid-19 virus and the way it is affecting our lives.

I did want to make it colourful though.

You can watch the video on my YouTube channel

I am using watercolour paper for this page which is going to go in my ring bound journal. The page is 8.75" x 8.25".

The background is black gesso.

The image of the emu came from a website called Vector Stock. I printed it onto normal copier paper and then fussy cut it and attached it to the page using Atelier Regular Gel (Gloss).

Once this was dry I used a couple of clear stamps and Encore gold ink and stamped over the whole area, wiping any off that got onto the emu. In hind sight I could have left it on there because the acrylic paint would have probably covered it.

Some splatters with Solid Gold and Titanium White watered down acrylic paints completed the background.

I started colouring the emu by watering down some Sunshine Yellow acrylic paint and giving the feather area of the emu a coat.

I gave the beak and eye rims a coat of watered down Elephant Grey acrylic paint.

Once this was dry I used Sunshine Yellow, Red Carnation and Sunrise Orange acrylic paints and a liner brush to draw the spikey feathers onto the emu.

I also added some lines to the feather area with my Zig Opaque Writer 0.5mm Pure Black pen and my White Gel Pen.

I watered down some of the yellow and gave the beak a light coat.

To colour the eyes I mixed some of the red and orange acrylic paint together.

Details and shading was added to the emu's face with black acrylic paint and white gel pen

The double squiggly line around the edge of the page was added using my fineline bottle that hold watered down white acrylic paint.

The title was cut on my ScanN Cut. I cut it in both white and gold cardstock as I wasn't sure which way I wanted to go but decided to go with the white because the gold blended in to the background too much. I have added a squiggly line to the edges of the letters so that it blends into the background a little and looked like it belonged there and not just plonked on for the sake of it.

I hope you have enjoyed looking at my page, don't forget to check out the video

Thank you for spending your time here with me today.
Till next time
Hugs
Julie

Flower Box Card

Good morning to you

Today I am going to share how I constructed this pretty box card. I will give you the measurements for constructing the actual box part but the decoration of the card can be quite varied. I have used flowers but I have seen boxes with hearts, Easter eggs, stars, presents and all sorts of items depending on the occasion the card is for.

I have made a video of the process, so if you want to see exactly how I made these flowers you can see the process here.

OK so let's get started.
I started with an A4 sized piece of 240gsm white card. I cut a piece 5 1/2" x 10"

The cutting guide and measurements are shown in the diagram below. Cut two of the 3 3/8" x 3/4" pieces

Once you have your cardstock ready this diagram shows where to cut and where to fold.
Only three of the four top (where the cut is down to the centre fold) sections are folded down. The end section (opposite the 1/2" fold) becomes the back of the box and stays at full height.

Use glue to attach the 1/2" tab to the inside of the box back. Then attach the two strips to the inside of the box about 1/2" down from the top and about 3/4" apart.

To create the flowers I have stamped four Heartfelt Creations stamp sets not white cardstock. The stamp sets I used are Delicate Asters, Daisy Patch, Tattered Blossoms and Sparkling Poinsettia.

I then scanned these into my Scan N Cut and cut several of each of them from four assorted patterned papers. I also cut the leaves in green cardstock.

I inked the edges of all of the flower layers and leaves then shaped each layer before assembling the flowers using glue. A gem was added to the centre of each flower.

Next step was to decorate the box itself. I chose pink for this. The white with pink spots is a paper from Creative Imaginations that I have had in my stash for many year. It was printed in 2008.
I am not sure what brand the bright pink is as it was a scrap that had no branding strip on it. The green for the leaves was also from my scrap box but I know it was a Kaisercraft paper just not sure what range. All of the papers have had their edges inked with black ink before being attached to the card.

From the pink spot I cut 3 pieces 2 1/4" square and 4 pieces 2 1/4" x 3". Attach 3 of each size to the outside front and side panels of the box. The last piece is attached to the top outside back of the box.

From the bright pink I cut 3 pieces 2 1/4" square which were attached to the top of the folded down sections. Then cut a piece 2 1/4" x 5 3/8" and attach it to the inside of the back panel

I decided to add some height to the two strips that ran across the inside of the box so I could get a layered effect to my flowers. I cut two pieces of white cardstock 2" square and attached them to the strips that run through the card so their heights were staggered. I then covered them with the bright pink patterned paper.

Using my hot glue gun I attached the flowers to the three panels.

I cut a tag from white cardstock using Kaisercraft's DD521 Die Cut Shapes die. I stamped Happy Birthday on the tag, using Hero Arts Small Greetings stamp and black ink. I then inked around the edge of it and attached it to the bottom right section of the front flap. I also added another flower and leaf to this panel.

My final step was to add a 2 1/4" x 3" piece of white cardstock to the bottom back of the card where I can write my personal greeting.

So there we have it a pretty box card that fits into a 7 1/4" x 5 1/4" envelope when flattened.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post and if you want to try this for yourself but get a little lost with my directions pop over to my YouTube channel and check out the video. I am sure that will clear up any questions you have. Alternatively you can leave your questions in the comments below and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

Thanks for dropping by today

Till next time

Hugs

Julie