Gypsy Gypsy Weathered Wood Card and Video Tutorial

Hi all

I have been thinking really hard lately about where i want to take my creative journey in the next few months. I looked back from the beginning and i have come really far since then but i looked at my style and decided that there are two distinct areas i really shine in which are mixed media and vintage so i want to focus on those styles. I also want to take this blog in a new direction starting from next month and make this  blog more inspirational and more interactive so i will be including more tutorial based projects and i will be learning to create the dreaded tutorial videos. In October i will be launching my very own monthly sketch challenge and there will be more scrapbook layouts going on the blog too just like there used to be.

So today i have been playing with the gorgeous Gypsy Gypsy paper pad by Craft Consortium and i love the vintage style prints on this pad so this really suits my style. I started off by taking two sheets of paper and covering half of a 6 x 6 card with each color.Next i took the really bright floral sheet and cut a 4 cm x 4 cm square and turned it on it's side to create a diamond shape. I then printed out my image which is a preview of one of the free sheets i will be giving out as part of the Gecko Galz blog hop in October.

I painted up a wooden frame using black gesso as the base and then i added a layer of Weathered Wood Crackle Medium over it once dry. Then i painted DecoArt White Crackle paste over and left it to dry. I learned this technique of Teresa Morgan and you can see a more advanced version on her blog http://www.thefatcactus.co.uk/?p=5368  but i kept it as it is to give it a more worn look. I then trimmed my image to fit inside the frame and added a wooden butterfly to finish the topper. 

I have a basic video here showing how to get the crackle effect

I added a doily to the center of the card and the a length of lace before sticking the frame down. I then finished the card off by using the rub on stickers that come with the paper pad.

Thank you for visiting

Trimcraft Scrapbook Feature: Using Photo Frames With Your Instagram Photos

Hi all

Here is a layout i made for the Trimcraft website here is a link to the tutorial http://www.trimcraft.co.uk/articles/how-to-scrapbook-your-instagram-photos . The idea is to make a layout that can be used for Instagram style photos and i found the photo frames worked well as you can write on to them.

I have a tutorial on how to make these topper here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NpOWLZWb5A

I just roughly cut the squares of patterned paper and then layered them up at an angle. I used the Leyton 12x12 pad for this page as it is double sided so you don't need to cut as much up.

You can read my full step by step guide here www.trimcraft.co.uk

Easter egg decorations tutorial

Hi everyone

as Easter approaches i decided to make some decorations for an Easter tree. to start with i am going to quickly explain how to make these felt egg hanging decorations which could also be sewn on to ribbon of twine and made into a garland.

 To start with you will need a selection of felt, i recommend the Dovecraft essentials felt packs as they are cheap at around £2 a pack for 8 A4 sheets of felt which are a nice soft material and not the hard acrylic like some of the cheaper brands. you can get packs of nearly every color from bgpaynecrafts.co.uk  for £1.59 a pack of course i got a bit trigger happy with the add to cart button.

 I used a Xcut egg nesting die as these cut through material and is a lot quicker then cutting by hand. If you do not own a die cut machine then i have a template you can print out and use instead. visit http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/easter-templates and get it directly from the site.

so basically i cut two of each color and on one i glued a ribbon loop to hang the egg up with.i then hand stitched around the egg and left a gap to put the stuffing in. I know the toy stuffing can be expensive so i use the stuffing out of a cushion. you can get these from the pound shops. i finished off my decorations with buttons and resin flowers.

                                               Thanks for visiting

Festive Fun Day 3 : custom gift wrapping

some last minute gift wrap ideas and mine usually are last minute,

you can pick up rolls of brown parcel wrap fairly cheaply theses days, i get mine form Poundland and its great to keep in as you can adapt it to suit any occasion. to make the customised gift wrap i just filled a 6x6 acrylic stamping block with an assortment of random Christmas themed stamps. you can choose just words or images,the fun is about mixing them up to get a different look. i then inked the lot and stamped along the paper, i placed a foam mat underneath to get an even image but a mouse mat also works.

Why not decorate an empty jar with paper and ribbons? you can fill them with sweets of baking mixes to give as presents. i used a variety of different items from twine and lace to decoupage

sheets. as long as you use a strong glue or glue gun you can stick anything to your jars.

bottles are difficult to wrap so why not make a fancy cover to go over the bottle. I cut out a large rectangle shape and used a small circle die to make the opening for the bottle. i used the Papermania Bellissima Christmas decoupage sheets to decorate the topper.

I added a tree decoration over the top as an extra gift.

Thank you for looking