There’s lots of little embellishments on the market today – chipboard layered on felt, on transparency, with a bit of stitching and a bit of distressing, and they’re gorgeous and perfect for when you want to get pages made and you don’t have all the time in the world to play. But what if you did have that time? What sort of little custom-made embellishments could you layer and blend and create for your self?
This weeks challenge: make your own embellishments. Email your layouts to us at aussiedt@iinet.net.au by next Wednesday 15th March for a chance to win a prize pack full of embellishments!
Janine adores the intricate layers of circular elements that Christine Middlecamp creates on her layouts and decided to try her hand at layering stamped images, die cuts and stickers on top of each other to create her own page embellishments. It was so much fun and a great way to use up some of your stash while creating something entirely new for your page.
Another fun product Janine used on her layout was the new tissue paper by 7 Gypsies. It was so easy to create ruffled edges and borders with, allowing so much more dimension.
Sue enjoyed the brief of making handmade embellishments. She began with a pack of Sassafras In a Stitch Blossoms which are cute little cardstock flowers with stitched buttons on top. They are available in several colours and Sue chose the Vintage Rose set to compliment her page.
The blossoms are fairly small so to make a feature out of them, Sue created larger, layered embellishments by adding punched circles of patterned paper, circle stickers and circles punched from a Hambly overlay. The layers were separated using mounting tape and added lovely dimension to the page.
For another type of flower, Sue punched a large scalloped circle from patterned paper and then added layers of tulle and then finally topped it with a Sassafras blossom. Sue then punched a whole through the bottom of the flower and tied a dangle element from the Pink Paislee Parisian Anthology range.
Sue also had fun creating a flower from tulle twisted into a circle shape. Sue used a glue gun to adhere the tulle to a circle cut from felt. Cosmo Cricket has actually released a product for this purpose so that you won’t need a glue gun. To make the embellishment even prettier, Sue used some of the cute brads from the Crate Paper Emma’s Shoppe range to place in the centre of the tulle.
Another idea for creating a handmade embellishment is to use rub-ons applied to transparency and then cut out. The use of transparency adds more texture to your layout and also makes them more visible. The two little butterflies on this page were actually cut from packaging from a set of Basic Grey Curio embellishments. A lot of companies are now making packaging that is designed to be cut up and used. So next time, check before you throw it out!
Carole found making embellishments to be so much fun, she made a page full of them! Carole used the Prima So Cute Collection to create three-dimensional shapes as a base for her embellishments. She used the chipboard, cutouts and patterned papers from the range along with some felt and dimensional gloss to make these gorgeous and very cute little critters.
Using a chipboard square/circle for the background Carole covered in paper, material etc., and then she cut out fun pieces and layered them on top of the chipboard shape. Carole adds that you can include felt, paper and flowers in between each layer to create something very special – and it’s a great feeling to know you made them yourself!
So, what embellishments can you 'make yourself?’ We hope this inspires and can’t wait to see your projects!
