Collection Jars

Hi Leo here!
I've got a fun project today on the collecting theme, making 'collection jars'. You need an empty washed out jar and a few paper bits and pieces from your kit. It's a fun way to keep collections of 'chunky' bits and pieces you've collected. You can also add a photo as I've done too.
Mine has a vintage theme but you can make one to reflect a certain collection or make one like the memory jars that hold a collection from a special day or a holiday.

First start off by cutting out a piece of paper to fit inside your jar. Measure it out around the jar so you know it will fit inside. It needs to be big enough to cover half the jar so the front of the jar acts as your 'window'.

Once the paper is cut to size add anything you want to on top. You could make a mini scrapbook page, add a word or just add more paper pieces.

Roll the piece of paper up gently and pop it into the jar. If you want to make a piece of paper for the bottom of the jar you can do this just by drawing around the base of the jar. You could use something else too like sand or pebbles or shredded paper etc.
The jar's really starting to take shape now!

The next step is to fill the jar with your collected bits and pieces. My jar doesn't have a nice lid so I've decided to make a fabric lid from a piece of fabric fixed over the top of the jar with a elastic band and a piece of ribbon to disguise the band.

There we have the finished jar!

I think this is a lovely way to keep those lovely chunky little random collections that won't fit in your scrapbooks. The jars can go on a bookshelf just like a picture but a little more three-dimensional.
Have fun!

Going out for a Smoothie

Hello, Emy here for my last post this month. I have really enjoyed using the gorgeous Quirky kits and here is my last page using the Rocky Road Lite kit, with a series of photos I've been waiting to scrapbook since summer last year. I just hadn't found the right look to go with the pictures, but when I saw this Studio Calico patterned paper, I knew it would be perfect. The only extra thing I've used on my page are a few Kesi'art alphabet stickers .

I started my page by adding paint to the paper using the end of an old cardboard tube (with an idea to make it look a little like the ring from the bottom of a cup). You can see in this photo how I've folded over the edge of the cream patterned paper, which adds texture and adds a little bit of the turquoise which is on the back of the sheet.

I tore strips from the paper bag that was in the kit and made a ruffled strip across the page, sticking it down first with adhesive and then stitching it in place.

I coloured my calico rosette using Distress inks and a water spray to help the ink run. I used a blanket stitch around the edge of the rosette and used the Studio Calico die cut stickers to add "ribbons" under the rosette.

Hope you've had a great October and are having fun with your kits. Bye for now!

Emy

Collectors Tray Part Two

Hi!
Leo here with the next step creating the collectors tray using the Hazelnut Coffee Quirky Kit and a 7Gypsies Letterblock tray. Part one is here if you need to catch up from the beginning, http://quirkykits.blogspot.com/2011/10/collectors-tray-part-one.html

The last thing I did was to use the small off cuts to cut out some circle shapes. I've used a Nestabilities pinked circle die for mine. I also said to save the rest of the off cut bits of paper.

 Along with those leftover paper pieces I've also now made some flower shaped diecuts from text paper. I've got the rub ons to use from the kit and some leftover paper flowers from my supplies.

Now the flowers aren't the right colour tone for this project so I'm going to colour them with some mist sprays to match in with the tones of the kit papers.

I've used brown, silver and gold inks to colour them with.

Next I'm going to make some layered embellishments to go inside some of the tray sections.
For each embellishment I've started with the largest paper circle then stacked a smaller circle on top using 3D foam pads. The next layer is the text paper flower then the painted paper flower and then finally a small circle of paper:

I'm going to add words to these embellishments so I've used some mini alphabet stickers, (these were in the Sping In Your Step Quirky Kit) on the off cuts of paper sticking them on the paper, cutting around them then distressing the edge.

I want to spell out 'enjoy the small things' so I've made an embellishment for each word.

I've also made some smaller embellishments making use of the rest of the circles of paper and the butterfly rub ons.

I've made more words using the small off cuts of paper with stickers stuck to them and cut out.

All these embellishments I've added to some of the tray spaces along with some of the postage stamps from the kit.

Here's what I've got so far:

Just one more last step to go putting the last finishing touches together and making some mini photo stands.
xx Leo

Happy Words minibook

This month Leo has a theme of collecting and recently I have been collecting inspirational quotes which I wanted to have all in one place so I decided to make a minibook. I was thinking of the expression "thinking outside the box" but I decided to change it around and think of the box itself - the box my kit arrived in!

I started my mini book by cutting out 6" x 4" rectangles from the box and tearing off the top layers of card. I love the effect this has. I covered both sides of each piece with gesso. I used gesso rather than acrylic paint as it only requires one layer.

I started layering up my pages using the lovely bits and pieces in the kit with the addition of a couple of border punches and an ink pad to colour the edges of the quotes.

I used one of the glassine envelopes here to write out a story I read recently and I wrote out the title on the page. I used the gorgeous Studio Calico butterfly rub-ons throughout the book as it helps the individual pages come together as a coordinated whole design.

I used another piece of glassine envelope here and the twine from the parcel too.

The tissue paper that the kit was wrapped up in was used on this page to make a rosette with a torn paper heart in the centre.

I'll be back soon with my final project for this month using the Lite kit "Rocky Road"

Happy Crafting

Emy

Happy Days

I've been continuing to play with the gorgeous Hazelnut Coffee kit and here's my layout using the crochet doily I used as a mask on my previous page. I also used the bakers twine which was used to wrap up the kit so beautifully. The doily and the crochet trim add some fantastic texture and I wanted to continue that by adding texture to the strips of patterned paper by curling up the edges a little.

Here's the crochet doily and I added a little masking tape on the top corners of the photo.

I love patterned paper and I have a generous stash of it in my craft room, but I've struggled to use it on layouts recently as it didn't feel messy enough! I decided to start to treat it as I would a piece of blank cardstock by adding paint and inky splats. I used a drybrushing technique here with a cream acrylic paint.

A little photography tip from me too... the photo on this page has been altered on the website Picnik. It's a website which is free to use and very easy. I used an effect called "cross process" to alter the colours in my photo and also increased the exposure a little to suggest a sunny day at the beach.

Collaging with Hazelnut Coffee

Hi everyone, I'm Emy, the guest designer for this month. I was so happy to receive my gorgeous kits and I couldn't wait to get started. The first thing that I found exciting in the box was the tissue paper that the supplies were wrapped in! Tissue is fabulous for creating texture.

I tore my tissue into pieces and pasted them onto some "Brown Sugar" cardstock using a matte gel medium. I left this to dry completely.

I wanted to colour my crochet doily for another page and so I sprayed it with a blue mist on my collaged page to use it as a stencil. While the ink is still wet, you could print it onto another piece of blank cardstock to use it a third time as well.

I started layering up the crochet trim and photo and adding the beautiful stamps. I love the idea of using stamps on a layout. If you'd like more ideas about how to use stamps in a crafty way then check out the very talented Julie Kirk's blog "Notes on Paper" and her fantastic series "Going Postal" ( scroll down a little and look for a list on the left). There's a Pinterest board to go with the series too.

I used some of the "Memoir" butterfly rub-ons and joined them up with a dotted line then used my journalling pen to write out my title. I've been trying to be brave and use my handwriting more on my pages recently. I found this quote by an American poet and it sums up my daughter so well, but it would take a lot of alphabet stickers to write out! I practised on some scrap paper first and then put pen to paper.

I'll be back soon with the project using my crochet doily, which is now blue! I hope you are all enjoying your kits as much as I am!

Spooky Halloween brooch making with the Rocky Road Quirky Kit Lite

Hi!
Leo here with a fun idea using this months Quirky Kit Lite. In the kit you have the fun calico fabric rosette embellishments. The fabric is designed to be altered so you can colour match it to your project using spray inks/paints etc. I've made a fun Halloween brooch mixing the rosette with the owl cupcake pick embellishment from the kit.

To begin with I snapped off the pick bit of the owl embellishment and sanded off the bit that was remaining to make it neat.

Next I've painted on some green ink around the frilly edged of the fabric rosette. This is just regular drawing ink I'm using. You could use paint or marker pens too. I want to make it spooky/vintage looking so I'm just using a dry brushing technique and applying the ink sparingly to keep some of the fabric showing through.

I've painted the centre of the rosette with a plum purple ink.

I also added some of the purple to the frilly bit in small patches. After the painting's done it needs to be left in a safe place to dry.

Next I want to make some ribbon tails for my brooch so I've trimmed down two pieces of ribbon and glued them on top of each other with the glue gun. This ribbon I had leftover from the 'Spring in Your Step' Quirky Kit.

To glue the tails to the brooch add the glue to the ribbon first.

Then press the rosette on top and glue the owl embellishment to the center.

Finally all that's left to do is add a brooch back. I used a wooden heart embellishment from my craft supplies and then glued the brooch back onto it. Apart from a brooch you could also glue the rosette to an alice band or a hair clip/bobble to make a fun hair accessory for Halloween.

Hope you're having a spookily good time with your kit!

xx Leo

Idea to try out - Mini Collages

Hi!

Leo here again with an idea for you to try out with your new Quirky Kit 'Hazelnut Coffee'.
I couldn't wait to dive into this kit and start creating. I just love all these yummy earthy colours and the chunky textures of the trims. The trims are great for adding a little texture to your layouts. On this one rather than having embellishments all around the page I've concentrated them down and made mini collages using a collection of different bits and pieces. These are really fun to make just cutting up small bits of the trims and the papers and layering them all up until you're happy.

I started with layering some inks spraying them on using a mini mister. I used the strip of paper next then added a piece of jute then another piece of the Amy Tangerine paper, (same paper I've used both sides of it). I cut the crochet trim in half and used half on the bottom mini collage then used the other half on the mini collage at the top of the page to keep them both related. The circle embellishment was made by cutting out one of the doily images on the turquoise Lily Bee paper then gluing it to the back of the paper and cutting it out, I made two layers of paper then distressed the edges. As a last touch I added some of the butterfly rub ons that have been applied to the yellow Lily Bee paper then cut out.

Why not have a go at mini collages. on your next layout? Have fun! xx Leo

Collectors Tray - Part One

Hi!

Today I've got stage one of the fun collectors tray project. I'm using the Hazelnut Coffee Quirky Kit for this along with a 7Gypsies Letterblock Tray.

To begin with I've measured each of the tray spaces and cut out patterned papers to fit the back of each square. Each piece of paper was cut to roughly the right size then I've pushed it in each space to make it wedge into the shape to fix it in place. Some of the larger spaces needed a little bit of doublesided tape to stick them in place.

Once you've done adding a piece of paper to each square you may have some off cuts left like these. From the larger of these scraps cut out some circle shapes. I've used a Nestabilities pinked circle die to cut out mine but you could just use scissors or use a punch, anything you have. Leave the smaller pieces of paper as rectangles.

That's it for today, here's what I have so far.

Check back later on next week for the next stage of the project.

x Leo