October - the month of collecting

This October I've planned a whole month of inspiration and ideas for us with the common theme of 'collecting'. Along with a fun new Create 10 class 'The collectors diary' I've got a fun project to run through the whole of October using the upcoming Quirky Kits featured right here on the Quirky Kits Blog. If you want to play along you'll need a letterblock tray or printers tray or something similar. There are lots of different kinds out there you can get now, if you're really clever you might find out a vintage one. You could even experiment and make one from scratch with your kit pizza box?
For the blog project along with the Hazelnut Coffee kit I'm going to use a 7 Gypsies Letterblock Tray:

Look out for this project beginning next week plus more lots of fun ideas throughout October 'the month of collecting'!

This month our guest designer will be Emy . Emy has a fun eclectic arty style check out this wonderfully different page tutorial, http://emyscraftyblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/twirly-tutorial.html

Have fun this month!
xx Leo

More peeks of upcoming kits......

Hi
I've got a couple more peeks for you this week ahead of the new kits shipping out next week!
Here's some of the lovely browns with splashes of colour that feature in the main kit 'Hazelnut Coffee'. These postage stamps are really pretty and will add the perfect fun quirky twist to your projects.

In the lite kit 'Rocky Road' we've got more chocolate tones and I just love these fun alphabet stickers. They're kraft cardstock which means they'll go with anything as they are but you could also stamp on them or add colour to them with inks, markers or paints.

What are you loving the most from the sneaks?
xx Leo

First sneak peeks!

As the goodies for the upcoming Quirky Kits are beginning to arrive I can start sharing some fun sneak peeks. 'Hazelnut Coffee' is the main Quirky Kit for September/October. It's got the base colours of coffee browns enlivened with sprinkles of jewel colours and decorated with the woody textures of Autumn. I've included an underlying documenting kind of a theme so there's also fun letter papers, postage stamps and pretty glassine envelopes. Here's the first sneak peek........

The Lite kit this time around is 'Rocky Road'. This one has a chocolate brown base with more blues and woodgrain to compliment the main kit plus splashes of bolder autumnal colours like the pretty plum 'Memoir' paper shown bellow but there's also hints of liquorice black and the kitschy vintage owls, (perfect for Halloween) give it an ever so slightly spookier edge. There's plenty of treats with this yummy kit!

Look out for more sneak peeks over the next couple of weeks up to the full reveal on the 25th.
xx Leo

Sketchy Sunday

It's almost time for a brand new Quirky Kit so now is the time to use up all of our current kit. Today I've got a sketch for you to have a play with along with a little bit of a prompt. Here's the sketch:

For an extra prompt working with the sketch use at least 3 items from previous kits or from your craft supplies if you don't have any previous kit to use.

Here's my layout using both the sketch and the prompt:

I've used The Milk Bar Quirky Kit and some leftovers from Downtown Tea Party and Glastonbury Fields, (button, twine and card scraps). I've also used some stamping so why not try and include stamping in your layout as an extra prompt?

Have fun! xx Leo



Working with paper strips

Hi Leo here and today I've got an idea for you for a simple and fun way to build up a scrapbook page.
I'm using a mix up of The Milk Bar Quirky Kit and Ice pops Quirky Kit Lite.

As you work through your kits you might find you end up with lots of strips of paper so today I'm going to show you how easy it is to use these strips as a base to build a page. You may even want to make paper strips from your scraps to have a go too.

I'm going to use the American Crafts City Park paper from the Lite kit to build my page up on as it's got a nice boarder all the way around. From there it's as simple as building up your paper strips. I'm going to start with the largest one I have and add it right at the bottom of my page. If you're not confident to stick them down right away just place them till you're happy.

Next I've added another strip over the top of the last.

With the next strip I've cut a V shape in the end and added it above the last two strips so it's slightly overlapping them.

Next I'm going to add my photo. It's a large photo which is actually a scan of a photo collage so it's made up of lots of smaller photos. It's roughly 6x7 inches. If your photo is smaller just fill in the gaps with more paper strips. I want to slide some paper pieces underneath it so I've just added the doublesided tape in the middle of the photo to allow me to slide some of the paper strips underneath around the top and bottom and the edges. I've also added some of the stickers from the Sassafras sticker sheet to the photo corners.

Next I've added some more paper strips above the photo; they're slightly layered underneath it.

I've used a piece of the Sassafras paper with the lines on it to make a journalling block and added it alongside the photo sliding it underneath the edge a little.

Finally I've added a few embellishments.

Then the title to finish.

There we have it. A really quick and easy way to build up a page. On this page I've added them across the page but you could also add the strips to your page top to bottom. Also try using small strips in the middle of a page or to either side. Have a play around and see what you can come up with using strips of paper.
Have fun!
xx Leo

So very refreshing at the Beach

Was that our summer?! Too cold?! Too much rain? Oh dear, roll on the good old days! So I picked a picture from last year when I got my feet in the sea and used up all my scraps and left-overs from "The Milk Bar" Kit!

They were some labels left, tickets, the round journaling spot, the cute littel badges, a cross-stitch wheel (which I did for the 'Zennor Village' LO but it didn't fit on there) and the rolled flower embellishment which was on Leo's card when she sent me the Kit!

And don't forget that little seagull! So so cute!

What did you do with your left-overs from that kit?! I've still got some papers and ribbon, I might do some cards!
I really hope I could inspire you in August using your Quirky-Kit and I also loved following the Thread on UKS! And thanks Leo for that opportunity to be a guest-designer for your kit! Really loved it!
Have a great September Ladies, I'm off to school (with Shimelle :) )
xxx