Aussie Scrap Source

handmade christmas: tree decorations

 

Fancy making your own Christmas tree decorations this year?  There’s plenty of inspiration on the web, and we bring you some of them along with special ideas from our own design team below.

 

Here’s a cool way to use up some of those odd chipboard letters you’ve got leftover.  Join them together with tabs of clear acetate and hot glue for extra support and turn them into gorgeous Christmas tree words.  Suz’s tree isn’t up yet so once again Tim Holtz’s Tree of Life comes in handy for showing them off. 

To make these words you just need to make sure that your letters can butt up against each other in at least one spot, but two is even better.  Give them a couple of coats of gesso to cover up the fact that they’re all different colours of chipboard and then sprinkle graduating layers of Suz’s favourite Christmas embellishment – Martha Stewart Glitter!

 

 

 

Suz’s 8yo daughter likes to get in on the crafting act, and while Suz was making words, Phoebe was creating this gorgeous flower to go with them.  She hijacked one of the Pink Paislee Mistables flowers which she misted in Key Lime Pie Glimmer Mist, and then she hot glued Prima leaves to the back of it to make this decidedly Christmassy decoration. 

Suz’s favourite bit was that Phoebe knows that memory keeping needs to be recorded, and so she had made and glittered a little tag to go on the back so in future years they would know where and when this particular treasure came to be.

 

 

 

 

Louise Nelson has up-cycled a sad looking Christmas tree star, that was beginning to loose its glitter and look a little 'grey'. Louise has used the wonderful metallic range of Prima leaves and flowers to give the star a face lift; it now has a new earthy and funky 'look'.

 

 

 

Louise Williams used her die cutting machine to cut snowflakes from white cardstock, and swags and reindeer from the My Minds Eye papers before assembling into these cute double sided ornaments. She embossed the white cardstock with sparkle embossing powder for a shimmery effect and finished these sides with some sequins, punched branches and co-ordinating reindeer.

 

Here’s another decoration we found that is just beautiful in its simplicity.  There’s more pics and a tutorial for creating it here.

 

Imagine these gorgeous paper snowflakes in some double sided patterned papers.. we found a fabulous tutorial for it here.

 

 

And here’s one simple enough to keep the kids busy in the lead up to Christmas – go here for the tutorial for these darling baubles.

 

This stunning star was created by Alison Callcott who made these stunning creations from Tim Holtz Grungeboard, the Sizzix Primitive Star die and one of Tim Holtz’s new Alterations dies – the Mini Paper Rosette.  We love the layers of detail Alison has created here – thanks so much Alison for sharing your star with us.

 

Finally, we thought we’d include links to some timeless ideas from our own design team from past years.

      

 

 

 

 

 

 Hambly Christmas baubles                      Prima baubles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twiddleybitz/Tim Holtz ornaments        Quilled Creations snowflakes

weekend inspiration: core’dinations

 

The subtle details in the Core'dinations cardstocks mean that they make the perfect backgrounds for layouts. Sanding the details in is easy using a Core'dinations Sand It Gadget Tool. The Core'dinations bingo card, sanded to highlight the details, adds another point of interest, and balances the photo, without overwhelming the layout.

 

<3 <3 <3 was Louise’s response when she got to create with the Tim Holtz Kraft-Core!  So much so that she bought the whole pad! In line with Louise's style mantra, 'a little goes a long way' Louise has used one piece of the black Kraft-core, embossed it. sanded it and cut out the shapes so use as embellishments on her layout.

The touches of blue, [clouds and punched out bird strip] are also Core-dinations; from the Tim Holtz Distresses Ink range.

Here is a layout from Tim Holtz showcasing some of the ways you can sand it, tear it, ink it, distress it, emboss it AND KRAFT it!  The creative possibilities are endless….

 

 

 

We would like to thank the very talented Kim Jeffress for sharing this beautiful layout and card.  Kim is on the current Design Team for Core'dinations, and she is an Aussie too. Fabulous creativity Kim, thank you so very much for sharing :)

 

 

We thank Sarah Hodgkinson for allowing us to share her fabulous Core’dinations projects above.  Sarah brings out the amazing texture and makes the colours of the Core’dinations cardstock just pop.

weekend inspiration: hero arts

 

 

 

 

Hero Arts stamps were used in a couple of different ways on this whimsical layout by Danielle Quarmby. First, she stamped the 'Indie Bloom Star Blooms' design on two different patterned papers, one time using black ink and the other using a teal. Both pieces were then coloured with water-soluble crayons before being layered over the background of the layout. Gesso, impasto and spray inks were used to create an artistic background, blending over and around the stamped pieces of patterned paper.

A second stamp design, 'Indie Bloom Butterflies & Wild Flowers', was then added to the page once the gesso and ink were dry. In addition to the other elements layered around the page, they created a nature-filled theme with the grassy strands and small butterflies. Danielle, who doesn't usually think of herself as a stamper, was surprised at how much she enjoyed using the Hero Arts stamps to add a unique feel to her project.

 

Can you put up with Louise blithering on again on how wonderful Hero Arts Stamps are for your layouts???? LOL. Take it from us here at Aussie Scrap Source, she loves them!! Louise has posted before about their versatility, and with this layout it is proved once again. Louise has taken a Christmas themed stamp set, and used it to showcase a photo of her gorgeous young friend Jessica frolicking in a field of flowering Canola.

 

 

 

 

Jennifer McGuire is a master of stamping and cardmaking and we’re always thrilled to be able to share her projects on the Aussie blog.  She has created all of the above different looks with the same Indie Bloom ‘Butterflies and Wild Flowers’ stamp, showing just how versatile a single image can be.

 

To create the stunning flower that features on her card design, Dawn McVey used 3 different flowers from Hero Arts/Basic Grey's Luscious Bold Flowers stamp set and stamped each layer on white card before cutting each flower out and inking the edges with distress ink. Each layer was adhered with foam adhesive for lots of dimension.

 

Nichol Magouirk created this adorable card using Hero Arts' In the Garden stamp, stamping with a glue pad and then adding flocking powder to show off the design.

 

Here Shari Carroll has used some of the Basic Grey Hero Arts stamps in combination with Basic Grey patterned papers to create a cheerful friendship card!

handmade christmas: non-scrappy friends / co-workers

 

A set of beautiful cards is a perfect (and useful!) handmade gift for a non-scrapper. Kim says that by using a Collection Kit it makes it super easy to put together this beautiful set of cards that co-ordinate yet all retain their own individual style. Prima flowers and soft seam binding ribbon are the perfect finishing touches.

 

We loved this idea by Corrie Jones.  She has used American Crafts patterned papers and embellishments to create a whole little recipe book – a perfect idea for a cooking-loving friend.

 

Jewellery-making is a far cry from scrapbooking, and yet the talented Gudrun Loennecken brings the two together with this stunning gift idea, made from paper beads.  She has created a whole tutorial here on the Cosmo Cricket blog.

 

 

 

We found more jewellery and hair accessory ideas on the BasicGrey blog using some of their new Notions line.  Pretty and thoughtful gifts that need not take a whole lot of time or expense to create.

 

We are so excited to be sharing another gorgeous Basic Grey Sampler with you today. This one was created by Amy Friend and would look just delightful as a piece of wall art in any home or office. Amy has written detailed instructions here on how to create this stunning canvas. Thank you for sharing Amy.

 

We just adore this Seed Packet Pocket Book by Vanessa Menhorn. Here are a few words from Vanessa about the pocket book. "Wouldn't this be a perfect gift for a friend with a garden? I used papers from the Echo Park Victoria Gardens and Happy Days Collections here. The butterflies and flower images are stamped and colored with Copics. The pocket book is so versatile, you could make it a recipe book, a tag book, a coupon holder - it's up to you!"

You can see how Vanessa created this fabulous pocket book here.  Thank you for showing us a wonderful gift idea Vanessa.

homemade christmas special: december daily albums

 

 

 

 

Leeann was a little nervous taking on this assignment as she had never actually done or completed December Daily album before. Leeann needed a bit of a game plan to help get her started. The 7 gypsies envelope album was the perfect staring point. She loved the idea of being able to store small treasures inside the envelopes on the way.

Leeann started by taking the whole album apart and laying all the pages out she then cut to size a mixed of Hambly Screen Prints, BasicGrey and October Afternoon patterned papers and kraft cardstock. Leeann kept all the pages simple by adhering journal tags by Echo Park and an assortment of numbers. The cover was cover in old chipboard numbers and painted with gesso a few times, and finished of with chipboard accents from echo park and jenni bowlin and studio calico. Leeann is looking forward to recording each day right up to the big day.

 

 

 

Suz has mixed up fabulous Tim Holtz Kraft Resist papers, cardstock, Hambly and her favourite Christmas line – Webster’s Botanical Christmas to create her December Daily album.  Last year she managed to jounral most of the month on her blog, so this year she’s looking forward to taking the next step and printing and creating the pages in her album from the blog posts.  She has created pockets and spaces for extra photos and memorabilia throughout the album.

The album is sized at 6x8”, which means that she could use 12x8” cardstock folded over.  It’s not bound yet because she’s worried about wanting to change the order of some of the pages, so she will stitch the spines of the album together at the end. 

We hope to be able to check back on our December Daily girls later in the month and see how their albums are going!

weekend inspiration: lilybee designs

 

 

When Kim saw the Head Over Heels range she knew that it was just perfect for the photo booth photos that she had of her husband and her from a recent date night. The roses paper lends itself to the flowers being fussy cut and layered to frame the photos and matted area.

 

 

Janine loves the fabulous mix of patterns and colours in the This and That range from Lilybee Designs!
They are so eclectic and give such a fun feel to a LO, and perfect for her layered style. Janine also chose to mix both feminine flowers with grungy cogs cut from Tim Holtz Grungeboard, perfectly mixing both masculine and feminine elements together to compliment the photo. The small alphabet stickers by Lilybee were perfect for adding a larger journaling style title to the page.

 

Iris made this page for her friend Arlene who was adorned in their Filipiniana National Costume. The colors of the "Picket Fence" line adds a rich color and feel to this page without taking the focus out of the photo. The banners and cut-out stars adds even more detail to the theme of the page.

 

Jennifer Hufford created this page and shows that a heap of journalling need not impede creativity!  We loved how she layered the Harvest Market papers for a rich look on the photo side, and included the very cool and versatile alpha stickers to highlight her title within the journalling.  Thanks Jennifer for allowing us to share.

 

We thank Lisa Day for allowing us to share this fabulous layout which also makes beautiful use of the Harvest Market papers.  Lisa has given her scrapbook page a kind of patchwork look with random patterned paper piecing, and then stitched over them for extra texture.  Despite all the detail the lovely mellow tones of the papers allow the photo to really stand out on this page.

weekend inspiration: jenni bowlin studios

 

 

 

Janine used a mix of old and new Jenni Bowlin products to create this LO. The beauty of the Jenni Bowlin products is that many of them can mix and match with previous releases, for a wonderful selection with a slight eclectic touch to the layout.  By focusing on the reds and black in this LO, Janine has created a dynamic boy page predominantly from papers.

 

 

The Vintage Black Vine paper from Jenni Bowlin's Vintage Red Series has long been a favourite of Sue's. Sue decided to design her page around that vine image. Although it was a little work cutting it out, Sue thinks it was worth it. She has teamed the black vine with the soft pink and red tones from the Be Our Guest Collection. Although the papers are often used to scrap older photos, Sue shows that they are beautiful with modern photos too.

Sue picked up on the hint of blue in the collection and decided to embellish with the beautiful layered stickers from the Crate Paper Random Collection. Combined with beautiful vintage buttons from JBS and buttons from Crate Paper, the end result is a pretty page.

 

Thank you to Lisa Dickinson for sharing this simple and elegant LO using Jenni Bowlins new Haven range. The simple embellished colour blocked squares allow the focus to be on the pictures and story of the LO. Thanks so much for sharing this LO with us.

 

 

Mindy Miller has designed these gorgeous vintage style Christmas cards using the new Christmas range from Jenni Bowlin. We love how Mindy has used the label stickers and buttons to accent her cards. Thanks Mindy for sharing your designs with us.

handmade christmas: crafty friends

We all have two kinds of friends, those who ‘get’ the crafting thing, and those who don’t, and many of us would need to differentiate between the two when Christmas gifts are considered.  So this week’s post is aimed at those friends who ‘get it’, who would enjoy and treasure something that you made, because they appreciate the thought and effort that when into it – because you made it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following on from Lou’s amazing advent calendar earlier this week, which was also a ‘scrappy friend gift’ Lou created this beautiful mini album.  She so loves to create with wood products and embellishments, and this album by Pink Paislee is no exception. Wood is such a versatile product and the ideas for altering it are limitless :).

Lou created this album cover for a special creative friend. She has used a variety of metal trinkets from the rim a range to embellish the cover with, and wonderful woken alphas from Pink Paislee. Louise has left the is die pages for her creative friend to embellish as she adds her photos :)

 

 

Georgia and her sister both recently bought Thermomix machines and have been having fun swapping recipes. For Christmas, Georgia decided to create a recipe stand for her sister to keep all of those new recipes within arm's reach.  Georgia used a 7Gypsies Revolving Photo Carousel and as a holder for all her BasicGrey Picadilly pages, just waiting for new recipe ideas.

 

 

We loved many projects that we found on Sandy Ang’s blog not least of which is this gorgeous needle holder, created with Sassafras Papers and Websters Whimsies.  It would make a beautiful and thoughtful gift for any sewer or scrapper, and would also be quick enough to do several at once in a production line.

 

 

We also fell in love with these embellished Prima boxes on Sandy’s blog, though they were designed to contain gifts for bridesmaids, they would make a beautiful and thoughtful gift for a fellow crafter either empty as a storage offering, or perhaps filled with flowers or other embellishments. Sandy, thank you for allowing us to showcase your wonderful ideas.

 

 

This insanely beautiful project was created by Rachel Tucker from a recycled chocolate box, Prima flowers, papers and Pebbles.  She designed it for Valentine’s Day but truly, who wouldn’t love to receive something like this for Christmas, or indeed, any day of the year?!  Rachel calls them ‘sweet nothings’ as there are no calorie-laden choccies inside, just sweet notes and flowers. 

 

 

 

This piece of wall art would make a wonderful gift for a scrappy/arty friend. Kathy Wade has created this home decor item using the Silhouette machine as well as a leaf die cut and several different pieces of Basic Grey paper from the Indian Summer and Green at Heart ranges. The letter stickers are also from Basic Grey and the stamped letters from Hero Arts. This would look fabulous hanging in a friends craft room. Many thanks Kathy.

 

Finally, we thank Karola Witczak for allowing us to share this gem we found on the Pink Paislee blog. It’s a wooden shadowbox frame, that she has shabbied up with corrugated cardboard, white paint and Pink Paislee’s beautiful Butterfly Garden range. 

Next week we’ll take a look at handmade gift solutions for those friends who might not necessarily ‘get’ these more elaborate crafty gifts, but would still appreciate something that you’ve taken the time and effort to create.  If you have made anything that you think would fit this category, we’d love to see and share it.

homemade christmas special: advent calendars

 

 

 

 

Leeann decide to create her advent calendar a little differently this year. She found the above rickety old tray for $2.00 while browsing through a thrift store. It definitely needed a little bit of a make over. So armed with a can of white spray paint she pulled the inside plates out and sprayed, then gave it a light sand once dry. She used some striped pattern paper by Echo Park and adhere it to the background.

Once she had placed the plates back Leeann arranged all the Tim Holtz bingo numbers, using a thick black texta on some of the bingo numbers to add some contrast. She then gathered together prima roses, prima metal bird cage and bird, Jenni Bowlin vintage buttons and chipboard button, BasicGrey buttons, a Tim Holtz door knob and light bulb and a metal number plate along with a few other embellishments and arranged them all.

Once happy Leeann adhered them all in place and finished it off by using chipboard accents from Echo Parks Seasons Greeting range to create this gorgeous and unique countdown calendar!

 

 

 

Louise had wonderful intentions of making an Advent Tree, but has ended up creating her version of an Advent Branch! All that is missing is a beautiful cream, gold and silver birdie or two, but Louise is on the look out for it in her Christmas shopping. Louise has taken a 'grown-up' approach and created this Advent branch for a great scrappy mate. Louise had this idea to create simple christmas themed tags that could easily be used as embellishment on a christmas card or layout, or even mini book.

Each tag is numbered and corresponds to a numbered gift which contains wonderful christmas themed embellishments that can also be used by her scrappy friend, in the creation of her Christmas projects. Louise thought that this would really appeal to her friend, who also hates waste, as with this idea nothing would be thrown away/wasted.

Louise has created simple daily tags and embellishments, each numbered from 1-24 on the back to correspond with a numbered gift.

 

She then wrapped up 25 little gifts to correspond with each day; each contains some wonderful scrapbooking embellishments.

Are you just a little bit jealous? This is a selection of the types of gifts embellishments that Louise has wrapped up in the gifts! :) Some glorious Prima goodies :)

 

As you can see from this tag it can easily be used on a layout or card.

 

Each gift is numbered to correspond with a tag from the Advent branch :)  This is such a beautiful idea – we all want to be Lou’s ‘special scrappy mate’!

 

 

Take a look at this advent calendar made using the silhouette by Briana Johnson. Briana has used a mixed of pattern papers and other embellishments by Jenni Bowlin. And we just adore the mixture of boxes and draws. Totally gorgeous and packed with treats ready for the little ones to start counting down. Thank you so much Briana for letting us share your gorgeous advent calendar.

 

 

Finally, thanks to Kelly Goree for this stunning advent calendar which also uses the Silhouette templates.  She has of course, used Basic Grey’s ‘Jovial’ patterned paper range, and we loved the eclectic, vintage look she has given it.  Thanks Kelly!

weekend inspiration: authentique

 

 

The rich colours and thick cardstock base of the new Authentique papers give an excellent base for this layout by Louise W. She combined texture paste with a Crafters Workshop template to create the bird imagery along with dimensional paint dots for added detail. The Splendid range combines a pop of lime and aqua with a hint of distressed vintage, perfect for this boys layout.

 

 

Jane has used the 6x6in Authentique Uncommon paper pad to create this card, the designs are smaller and compliment the card size. Janes has used a Prima resin wishing well and cut the quote from the bottom of a 12x12 Uncommon paper where the barcode is.

Just one of the things that Jane loves about these papers is the texture of them, they're sturdy and the designs are just gorgeous! Jane gathered lace underneath the cut flowers and trim sections to create a flower. The bird is a Prima resin piece and the word is Authentique sticker.

 

 

Veronica Goh uses the Uncommon range from Authentique to create this stunning layout. With the distressed edges and soft textile touches combined with the intricate chipboard detailing, it's all pulled together in a beautifully cohesive page that matches the colours in the photograph perfectly.

 

This eye-catching page by Rosangela Philippsen uses the Authentique Blissful range beautifully. The warm colours and clever use of masking and fussy cutting add subtle focal points to the multi-photo layout, while the photo groupings and small frame details make it pop with the dimensional layering.

 

We loved this fun layout by Wendy McKee that also utilises the Blissful range of papers. With small touches like pearl head pins and various hearts, Wendy has pulled together a joyful page that captures the charm of the photo perfectly.

weekend inspiration: sei

 

Suz loved the ‘happy colours’ of the SEI Corinne range, and it made sense to her to combine them with a recent ‘happy snap’ of her and the children.  She combined the patterned papers with the versatile co-ordinating stickers and epoxy bits to make this cute layout.

 

 

 

Chris is getting a jump start on Christmas gifts this year and this lovely little set of cards using the Sunny Day range is all wrapped up and ready to be taken to school for her daughters teacher. Teaming the gorgeous Sunny Day papers with the Hero Arts Creative Tree and All Occasion sentiment stamps Chris has whipped up this matching set.

Chris cut the flowers from the pattern paper and layered them to create little embellishments for the cards. Add a black button tied with twine and some Liquid pearls and the cards were complete!

 

Chris shows us a couple of alternative stamps that could be used to create some more fabulous gift cards. The bird on the left card is from the Hero Arts Swirl Christmas set and the birds on the right are from the Hero Arts Hello Birdie set.

 

The Sunny Day glitter diecut accents are so fun to play and create fabulous cards with. Chris had a great time creating this little scene from all the fun pieces that come in the diecut pack. The glitter on the pieces make them really pop off the card! Chris has used 3D foam tape to make them pop even more!

 

 

The next two gorgeous examples of using SEI products on cards come straight from SEI design team member Lisa Johnson. We love the way Lisa has used the Corinne range in such a playful way! The kite diecut is so fun and all the fabulous decorative edges.

 

And for this card Lisa has used the Sunny Day range so elegantly. Such a simple but oh so lovely card finished off with some machine stitching if you look closely. Many thanks Lisa for sharing these 2 wonderful cards with us.

handmade christmas: for teachers

It’s time to turn our attention to those wonderful people who look after and educate our children for a third of each day.  Handmade gift ideas are great and can be economical when you have a more than a few teachers you’d like to acknowledge.

 

These little Lollipop Posies are a perfect gift for a co-worker or teacher. They are simple to make and not overly expensive. To start with wash out a can (preferably a ring pull one to avoid sharp edges) and then paint white with gesso. Use a hot glue gun to adhere the paper to the can. On the pink can Janine used the Martha Stewart doily punch on several papers and stuck them down in layers. For the other, just one strip that fit the can.

Make sure you add some weight to the base of the can, some play dough would work and keep the can steady. Then add floristry dry foam in-side the can. You can either use floristry wire and a hot glue gun to add the wire to the base of the flowers, or if you cant find floristry wire, you can always use skewers or cut some straws, but these are harder to push into the florist foam. Arrange a mix of lollipops and flowers and then finish off with some lace. Quick, simple and very pretty.

 

A book box is a cute and handy gift for a teacher, as it suits the theme of books and learning at the same time as being useful in a classroom or office to keep bits & pieces in. Danielle made this book box out a small cardboard box and some Jenni Bowlin large bingo cards. The curve of the book spine was created out of an extra strip of cardboard, and was covered in patterned papers. As well as the bingo cards, the spine and covers were embellished with ribbon, chipboard accents and label stickers.

Studio Calico patterned paper was used to line the book box, and it was filled with a mini book thank you card. This is a cute alternative to a standard thank you card for a teacher or grandparent or similar, allowing you to add drawings and other ephemera from the kids as well as a genuine message.

 

 

Cosmo Cricket’s cute Clementine range might be designed for Valentine’s, but it turns out it’s also great for teachers!  These cute cards made by Jenni Hudswell use Clementine cardstock and stickers to and are sure to brighten any educators day.

 

 

Here Tracy, of blog Violet Paper Wings, shares her cute gift idea of sticky note displays. Some ribbon and scrapbooking paper customise a plastic display stand for a quick and easy present that can be made to suit any theme!

 

 

Nora from Just Makes Stuff shares how she created a teacher's gift out of a plastic container and some scrapbooking papers with a cute card to match.

 

 

This sweet and simple tutorial from the BHG website -  shows you how to use pretty papers to make a recipe book gift.

 

 

Thanks to Jamie Cripps for this cute idea for a quick and easy gift of pencils – often it’s all in the presentation!  You can find details and some more great ideas here on the Little Yellow Bicycle blog.

 

 

Finally, the talented Roree Rumph created this gorgeous little handmade teachers’ gift in the form of a pencil bouquet and matching card, using Pink Paislee’s Nantucket range.  You can see details here on the Pink Paislee blog.

production line christmas cards

Making your own Christmas cards can seem a little overwhelming when your Christmas Card list reaches triple, or even just double figures! It’s easy to fall back on a cheapie box of printed cards, but we wanted to share some inspiration today on creating your own handmade Christmas cards that look like you’ve put hours of work into each one, but really they’re fairly quick and simple as part of a production line process.

 

 

Suz Doyle starts us off with a set of cards that look vintage and special, but are so easy an eight year old can make them (in fact, her eight year old daughter who doesn’t like being left out of the creating fun, did make the one pictured directly above!) 

Suz layered Prima leaves onto a strip of chipboard which she then cut into triangle shapes to make the trees.  The backgrounds are made from the new tim Holtz Kraft Resist papers (and you can get six card panels from each sheet), Glimmer Misted quickly, distressed and adhered to kraft cardstock.  A little braid and a little bling are all these cards need, but Suz couldn’t resist some finishing touches from the gorgeous Fancy Pants ‘Saint Nick’ Glitter Cuts pack.

 

 

 

 

 

Jenni Hudswell created this simple but effective set of cards from Prima North Country Art Paper.  Already sized at 6x6” these sheets are perfect for cardmaking, and Jen cut them into 1” strips to adorn plain white cards.  She created a couple of different looks with the pretty co-ordinating stamp, and it can be fun to change it up a little when you have a lot of cards to make.  The white tree, above is inked and then embossed, picking out the gorgoeus detail of the tree.  It serves a second purpose though as Jen then glimmer misted over the top of the embossing to create a resist effect.

 

 

 

 

Jane Clark has used the Cosmo Cricket Mrs Claus papers for these super quick and economical cards.  The ‘Yes Virginia’ paper has twelve of these cute little Santa figures on it. Jane covered the fronts of the folded cards with a range of other Mrs Claus papers in various sizes and then further decorated the cards with punched out bows and large adhesive pearls.

weekend inspiration: fancy pants

 

 

 

Danielle was instantly drawn to the bright, fun 'Off to School' range from Fancy Pants and took the opportunity to scrap the first day of school this year. A touch of gesso and string add a more casual feel to the graphic designs, and the layered element stickers, chipboard pieces and trims add a vibrant cheerfulness.

 

 

 

In this layout, Iris Uy uses the gorgeous "Summer's End" papers with the glitter cuts for a layout that is filled with cozy comfort colors and glitzy texture.

 

 

 

Fancy Pants Designer Iris Uy makes it a habit to make mini-albums for annual holidays and events in advance. Having too many photos taken in an event coupled with the pressure to have it scrapped soon equals no pictures scrapped at all. So her solution is mini albums made in advance for specific events like Halloween. This way, as soon as the pictures are taken and developed, all she has to do is crop the photos and adhere to her mini album.

 

Yuka Hino, another designer for Fancy Pants, created this bewitching layout of her daughter using the Oct.31 collection. She created a ruffled trim paper for the edge, misted the background paper with purple and black colors then overlaid a flocked web transparency to document this fun and beautiful Halloween moment.

 

Fancy Pants Designer Pamela Young, actually used FP's ribbon packaging to draw the shape for the card. She then added some rub-ons to the background, layered a filter and a die-cut, and topped of the layers with a ribbon and a chipboard embellishment. Finally she added stitching around the edges of the card. Simple details, beautiful effect!

 

For this funky layout, Lisa Andrews has used the calendar patterned paper from Fancy Pants' Off To School range as her background and built up from there.

 

Here Lisa once again uses the Fancy Pants Off to School range, this time to create a unique pencil tin! You can see more of Lisa's wonderful Fancy Pants creations on her blog.

weekend inspiration: bo bunny press

 

 

The Garden Girl Range from Bo Bunny is full of vibrant colours and Suzanne Tonga found it quite lovely to work with. It is a different colour scheme to what Sue would normally gravitate towards but the papers went really well with her photos. Sue adores her nieces and when they come to visit, Sue always makes sure to photograph them. Sue has used the chipboard from the range and it formed the basis for her embellishments on the page, including the cute little owl.

Sue then used tissue paper from 7 gypsies to create flowers. She punched circles and scalloped circles and layered them together, securing with beautiful brads from the Garden Girl range. Sue then glimmer misted and scrunched the flowers to give them colour and dimension.

 

 

 

Chris had a lot of fun inking and layering the Welcome Home range of papers and using the Combo Sticker sheet to add sentiments to her cards. The Prima Cameo Roses were the perfect finishing touch along with some basic kitchen twine.

 

 

This gorgeous layout was designed by Irene Tan. Check out all of the beautiful intricate cutting Irene has done. We love the balance of colour and the dimension that Irene has given to the layout.

 

 

 

 

Irene has used the Zoology line from Bo Bunny to create this detailed page. Thank you Irene for sharing your layouts with us.

 

 

What a treat to be able to share with you this amazing work by Tara Orr, design team member of Bo Bunny. Tara has masterfully created this stunning layout using the Bo Bunny Welcome Home Collection. I think you'll agree that these papers were perfect for this wedding photo.

Along with the Welcome Home Collection Tara also embellished the page beautifully with ZVA Creative using their new crystal flourishes and flowers.

 

Some more Tara Orr goodness here with this divine card using the Bo Bunny Garden Girl Collection. We just love how Tara has used layer upon layer to create this rich and beautiful card. Thank you so much Tara for sharing your talent with us.

handmade christmas: for dad and grandpa

 

 

Sue has created an album as a Christmas gift for her husband. She already had the beautiful 7 Gypsies Photo Display Stand which is quite strong and masculine looking, so she decided to do another album for it. That is the beauty of these stands, you can have several albums that you just swap over every now and then.

Sue has used family photos in her album and tried to keep the pages fairly simple. Although she tried really hard to keep the album suitable for a male, she couldn't resist making it with a little feminine touch!

 

 

 

 

Iris' two girls have made it a habit to make little love notes to their Dad. As a gift for their Daddy, Iris decided to make a gorgeous mini-album with the Pink Paislee Decorative Edge Wood Album to hold both the love notes of the girls and photos of them with their Dad. She has embellished it using the Crafter’s Workshop Woodgrain template, and Crate Paper’s Farmhouse range. 

 

 

Rachel Tucker came up with this beautiful idea for Father’s Day but it would translate into a Christmas present just as easily.  She writes that she had her daughters write on little bits of paper what they loved about their Daddy.  Rachel then packaged them all into the tiny boxes you see inside an old mason jar and embellished the jar itself with Fancy Pants Summers End papers and rubons.  Such a beautiful idea – for dad or just imagine how, if he already has everything else he needs, a Grandad’s face would light up receiving this from his grandkids.  Thanks Rachel for letting us share the idea here.

 

 

This altered project is by Nancy Damiano and we found it here on the ever-inspiring Pink Paislee blog. Nancy has altered a plain wooden desk organiser using Butterfly Garden, and has created texture and dimension by using rolled up paper strips for the front of the organiser.  Though the butterflies might a little feminine for some dads(!),  the garden theme works well, and the concept in general could easily translate to a more masculine project.

 

Inspired by similar ones made from champagne corks, Suz created this little cricket team last christmas to remind her brother (who lives overseas) just where his loyalties lie, and according to him they are also perfect for instructing his three year old son on the intricacies of fielding positions (whether he’s interested or not!). 

Suz didn’t have enough corks (or enough time to empty enough champagne bottles!) so she chose to use wooden cotton reels.  Queen & Co adhesive felt would make these up quickly and easily.

 

 

Coasters are a great idea for dads and grandads, because whether it’s a beer or a cup of tea, they all drink something!  We thank the talented Lowri McNab who shows us here how to turn small ceramic tiles into fabulous coasters with style.  She has used Echo Park’s ‘For the Record’ range in a 6x6 pad for this project.

 

Another coaster idea is to use photographs.  Suz Doyle has created these taking shots of landmarks from her childhood and mod-podged them onto cheap MDF coasters.  They do require a few layers of mod-podge and sanding with fine, wet sandpaper in between each coat, so they can be a little time consuming but for a personal project such as this the time is totally worth it.  In hindsight a good thick layer of Glossy Accents would probably do the trick just as well.

aussie christmas special: handmade card ideas

Halloween is over.. the Melbourne Cup is over.. surely that means it’s time for Christmas!  Our design team have come up with some beautiful ideas for handmade Christmas cards this year – and we’re thrilled to announce, and welcome new design team member, the talented Kim Arnold,  who along with Georgia Keays makes her debut for Aussie in this post.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Georgia wanted to make Christmas cards for her children's teachers which were similar but also unique. The first step was to let each child choose one of the bigger pieces of chipboard from the Crate Paper Peppermint line to serve as the focus of the card. As the colours of this range are so vibrant Georgia decided to use a very neutral paper as the background. Once Georgia had made the first card she simply repeated the design using the different chipboard pieces and adding other embellishments to suit.

 

 

When it comes to Christmas cards they need to be eye catching, but easily replicable and simple to make as most people need to be able to make large batches quickly. The Echo Park Holly Jolly Collection packs are perfect for easy but interesting Christmas cards with virtually everything to make these cards in one pack.

 

Whipping up some fabulous Christmas cards with the Jillibean Soup Christmas Eve Chowder 6x6 paper pad can be as simple as you wish to make it. Chris has combined the Jillibean Soup papers with the new Hero Arts Cling Wishes Come True stamp set, a Sew Easy Floss and a few Crystal Dots. She cut out the little penguins and trees from the paper itself to create some very quick and easy embellishments and to finish the cards off did a little machine stitching.

 

 

 

There has to be sparkle at Christmas time Jane tell us! The punched background was created by using a Martha Stewart Punch All Over The Page Country Tile punch. Jane also said that these punches are fantastic!! They're so easy to use and there are no mistakes trying to line up the pattern!! The punched card was then layered on Jac paper or single sided adhesive sheet and glitter poured over the top. Jane also cut out one of the punched designs and placed it over the paper bow.

 

Jane fell in love with these Webster's Pages Cameo, so she decided she would use these on her special Christmas cards for family and close friends. Jane extended the element of the cameo by glueing lace around the edge then added folded stripes of paper as shown. One tip Jane said 'Use lots of strong adhesive to keep everything in place!'.

 

 

When Sue first saw the Postcards to Santa paper from Webster's Botanical range, she knew that it could be turned into simple but beautiful Christmas cards. Sue has combined the papers with the lush Webster's ribbons, along with twine and bells to create her cards. Gold stitching has added a touch of elegance. Sue also added Frosted Lace stickles to highlight the designs on the paper.