Everyone is complaining about how the weather is so "hot! hot! hot!" and that's my latest layout for Made With Love.  Hopefully these pictures of my girl playing in the fountain at Bugis Junction will offer cooling relief.  I certainly felt good playing with some Sizzix dies, and Distress Inks and a stencil from Ranger.

Featuring a hidden journalling spot revealed by sliding away the photo on the bottom left.

The colours and texture reminds me of batik ...

While I was trying to conjure more cooling thoughts, I got wondering how many butterflies would it take to generate enough wind.  Sheets of real wood die-cut into butterflies.  The butterfly body is wrapped with twine and topped with a seed bead.

Behind the butterfly, the background was painted with white acrylic paint and the Dylusions Dotted Flower stencil from The Crafter's Workshop designed by Dyan Reaveley of Ranger.

As for the title, it's gesso on paper tape using a homemade stencil featuring the Cherish Sizzlit alpha set.  The font is sleek and funky, and it's on sale at MWL.  It's a very good deal since the set comprises both upper and lower case as well as numbers and punctuation - a 35-piece set in a storage box.

Sizzix dies used:
657209 Mini Butterflies Mover and Shaper Magnetic Die
657495 Butterflight One the Edge Die
654546 Cherish alpha set

From Mud to Gold!

You know how you mix Distress Inks and sometimes get mud?  Especially greens and reds, like below:

Festive Berries and Evergreen Bough (Winter Seasonal colours)

And if you add purple, you get muddier mud, if that is possible.

Seedless Preserves (Fall Seasonal colour)

Watch what happens when you add Mustard Seed - I tell you it's magic!!

Don't blink now ...

 Tada!!!  Everything just brightens up!  That colour should be renamed Midas' Touch!

So I declare:

Mustard Seed is the new black!!

I mean, it goes with everything ...

The finished tag:

What, you saw something in the earlier photo?  Yeah, my ink storage gone high-rise:

Merry May

May is looking to be a good month for crafting. I have dug into the depths of my pile of unfinished Club Scrap projects and completed four books.

This first is my favourite, featuring the tags from my misting/inking experiments.

The next is a teeny tiny dos-a-dos book weighing in at only 3"x3", it has 3 mini canvases for covers.  I painted the covers with Adirondack Pearls and overlaid with images stamped on clear sheets with Staz On black.

 The instructions for this album was a little confusing and I had to restart it a couple of time.  But once I had the hang of it, it went really well. I like the "V"s made by the stitching at the head and tail of the spine.  The 28 tiny stitching holes were a pain to pierce, though!

And finally the most recent book completed today, after hunting high and low for my Crop-a-dile Big Bite.  A stab-bound book with cover art featuring gelatos, distress inks and a cool image from the Connection kit.

I do have a couple more UFOs waiting for some hardware before they can be completed.  Hopefully they will be ready for sharing in the near future!

Album in a hurry plus and a washi banner how-to

I needed an album - fast!
Ingredients: Club Scrap 6x6 cardstock, book boards, cover papers (inside and outside), 6x6 page protectors, and washi - lots and lots of washi.

Done in a couple of hours including time for brunch and entertaining a persistent kiddo.

A how-to for the banner on the cover:

• Measure and cut twine to length of banner plus 2" on each end.  I tied a knot to indicate the working length I have.
• Lay twine on a non-stick craft sheet.  Tear off different lengths of washi tape and stick over twine approximately midpoint of the washi tape.
• Fold the washi tape over.
• Cut the ends of the washi tape - for narrow tapes, just cut at a diagonal.
• Secure ends of twine with the banner forming a gentle curve.

Brilliant! That's my girl

 For MWL: Layout featuring Maya Road.

The youth cell's item at Pastor D's Tribute Dinner.

The sheer paper mutes all colours applied to the back, be it patterned paper or mediums.  In this layout, I painted the colours straight out of the bottle using a soft paintbrush.

The two photos below show the front and the back of the same spot.

 

Here's another back view of the intense colour from Maya Mist.

Grandma - fixer of all boo-boos

I'm back with another layout for MWL.

I wanted to use some images on embossing folders on the page but of course the cardstock is too big to fit through my 'Bond. So I decided to ink up the positive (image protruding) side of the folder and stamp it on the page. That's right, stamping with the embossing folder - this will open up all sorts of possibilities because I can place the images anywhere on the page.  Using the negative side will create a different look too.

I had to burnish the folder on the cardstock since it was textured. But the result of the texture makes for an irregular print which I liked.


These are the embossing folders I used:
657395 Textured Impressions Embossing Folders Curly Gate & Berry Splash Set - Berry Splash (A2 Large)

657490 Texture Fades Embossing Folders Valentine Background & Borders Set - Hearts (A2 Border)


I also added a few layers of the fringe-like edging below the photos using 657410 Floral Bead Edging

MWL Scrap This and That Challenge

I'm hosting a challenge on MWL forum and it's about tapes and stamps.  Now who doesn't have a dozen or ten of these products - time to show them some TLC and put them on a page.

1. Create a 12x12 layout (no digital please).

2. Use tape and stamp.

The tape can be paper or fabric, as long as it comes in strips or rolls and has a sticky-back (ribbon with adhesive will count, but not ribbons or twill).
The stamp can be an image or a quote or alpha stamps.

3. Upload into the challenge gallery.

4. Voting will be by lucky draw and the winner will receive a $20 shopping voucher

5. Closing date :Monday 20 Feb 12 noon.

Here's my layout:


For those uninitiated into the world of washi tape, this is not just for taping your gift wrapping; it's sheer and just wonderful for layering.

I did just that - layering in alternating directions onto two pieces of cardstock. I then inked and embossed one and die-cut the other.


Have fun and looking forward to your participation!!  Post any questions at MWL Forum.