A bit dotty

 I knew that I wanted to have a central circle feature on my layout so made a circle template and painted some gesso through it.

I also wanted to challenge myself in the use of the mist in the kit. So firstly I painted some onto some of the patterned paper. Then once the gesso circle was dry I also painted with the mist through the stencil.
And THAT went rather horribly wrong.
I think it would have been better if I had mixed up either some gesso or even better a little texture paste to make it less runny as the mist did go to places it was not supposed to.
Which is why there is all the black pen work - to give some definition to the splodge and then to balance it with everything else.

I then layered up the papers and tags on the right hand side, stuck down some punched circles, then added the title and the two lots of journalling.

And THAT was the second mistake.
I so wish I had put the Bible quote on the top part of the circle rather than on the camera. It looked so out of balance.
So I decided to fill in the top half of the circle with lots of the tiny embellishments in the kits, also scattering them amongst the circles.

The finishing touch was more of the rub ons. I do adore the way that you can cut bits out and make your own phrases.

Sometimes more is more

I absolutely adore the background paper I've used here. Such lovely texture with the cracks, the stencilled flowers, the words down one side and scraps of paper on the other. So I wanted that to get a chance to show off. But there is still a lot more going on with this page. LOTS of layers, lots of little sequins and shine. Lots of words (handwritten, rub on and sticker variety).

By the time I made this page the Theresa Collins stickers had arrived so I wanted to feature a few of them. I am not a big fan of pre-printed details in that they can look a bit flat. So I added some of the stickers and papers to the design on the right hand side of the page, and also outlined everything.

With a pair of big scissors I cut strips of different papers that I felt toned with my photo. The grey circle had to be added in the end because my measuring went slightly wrong! If I only have scraps left then I often cut them in half and add layers on top. Somehow my gap was too big here so I had to improvise (because of course everything else was stuck down by that stage).

 I cut up the white tag so that I had a bigger area to journal on. I was really pleased with my journalling spot and so may well use this technique again. I utilised more of the fabulous rub ons, all the stickers from the various kits and every type of bling as well. After all, a layout about light needs plenty of sparkle!

 

Ticket to Fun

Hi, its Kathy back again

Here's a quick card that is simple to put together,  You don't need loads of tools, just your guillotine or craft knife, a pair of scissors, a pen and maybe an ink pad to edge the papers with.  

And your Quirky Kit, of course

Just cut two squares of paper, one a couple of centimetres bigger than the other and adhere to a square card blank.  This is a brilliant starting point for a card design as it immediately draws the eye into the centre  you could easily just add a flower, or a verse or an image and have a presentable card in minutes.

To decorate mine, I cut a couple of narrow rectangles, then cut in at one end just with scissors.  I scribbled around these with a gel pen and glued down, overlapping the two pieces of paper and tucking a "FUN" metal clip over the upper piece

Next I chose one of the tickets from the kit to put over the top - I just used glue at the end of the ticket because I rather liked the way it curled and I didn't want to flatten it.

I made faux brads by punching circles with my smallest punch and then shaped with a large embossing ball tool - you could use the end of a pen or something similar if you don't have one )I used to use a wooden dolly peg) anything with a rounded end will do the job

The bunting is simply hand-cut, glued down in an arc, and then a piece of Bakers Twine glued over the top.

At this point I thought I'd finished.....but realised it could do with something extra - so I added a third, narrower banner piece and tucked it under the loose end of the ticket.

From my Quirky Kit I used:

Simple Stories Charmed Life #7 paper

Websters Pages Ocean Melody ‘Ocean View’ paper

Studio Calico South of the Market ‘Tickets Please’ 12x12 patterned paper.(reverse) 

Carta Bella Ahoy There ‘Seashells’ 12x12 patterned paper. (reverse) 

Ticket  - Fancy Pants Everyday Circus roll tickets

Prima Seashore Metal Clips

the Bakers Twine was from my stash

My Kit Box contained a selection of gorgeousness from all the August/September kits. Click HERE to see them all

Thanks for looking

Making Layers

Hi Leo here!
I'm just catching up with what I've been making with the Beachy Peachy & Co kits.
One idea I wanted to try out was to use the crepe paper ribbon in the main kit to make a 'rosette' style embellishment. The rosette I made by first rolling up the crepe paper ribbon in a bundle then cutting off one edge with pinking scissors to give it a zig zag edge:

 I then stitched a large running stitch along the straight edge then pulled to gather the paper together in a 'ring' and glue in place then trimmed to make the rosette shape.

You could use them as they are or decorate them up some more. I cut out some paper pieces with circle dies and a butterfly and then stacked them up on top of the rosette and glued them in place.

This one I just used as a layer between two tags:

I also wanted to play around with the Colour Shine from the main kit and the wood shapes from the embellishment kit. I used the Colour Shine with the foam brush to colour two tags, one from the kit and the other I cut out from white cardstock, (using the kit tag as a template to cut around to get the tag shape). I poured out a little of the Colour Shine into a saucer then dipped the damp foam brush into it to paint the tags in the solid colour.
I used the paint from the embellishment kit to colour the wooden shapes to give them a pastel colour tone instead of the bare wood.
The rest of the layout is just built up layers of paper from the main kit. The little tag and peg are from the embellishment kit.

x Leo

Playing with Paint 3

 Hello

If you remember, a few posts ago I shared a project made using a simple water coloured background with a trellis pattern over it.  One of the photos showed another background piece made the same way, but with the other 3 paints in the kit. This time I'm sharing the card I made using that background

Some people aren't fazed at all at the thought of using paints, but that's not me!  So, it's a case of keeping it simple and not trying to do any of that "proper" painting stuff!  

 I used the foam brush and 3 of the paints to just paint simple stripes, adding a bit of water to soften the edges.  I painted two pieces of card this way, one with the blue/greens I used the other week and the one you can see on today's card which used the lemon, pink and peach paints
I knew as soon as I saw the roll of peach coloured crepe paper in my Kit Box that some kind of flower was going to be made, and this background seemed perfect for the job, so I just trimmed it down, matted it onto some matching card and then adhered it to a white square card blank

My flower is made from about 20 petals, I folded the crepe paper several times and cut 2 sizes of petals using a Marion Smith die.
Having separated them all I dabbed each with some brilliance "Rocket Red" ink - which isn't at all red, btw!
I rolled a large embossing ball tool over all the petals then glued a first set of 5 of the larger ones onto a card circle, followed by a 2nd set just inside the first.
Round 3 and 4 were made in the same way, but on a smaller punched card circle which I then glued into the middle of the first lot. The centre is part of the die set I used, cut in black card
I adhered the finished flower in place, then cut some swirly flourishes with a Spellbinders die to add extra interest
Finally I stamped the sentiment with one of the stamps that comes in the Lawn Fawn set with the Kit

Kit items used:

Acrylic Paints

Foam Brush

Lawn Fawn stamps
Crepe Paper

Other stash
Card in toning shades, plus a scrap of black, Black Card Candy circle
petal dies, Swirl dies, Large ball embossing tool, Brilliance Rocket red ink pad

The flower is so delicate looking - very much like some of the orangey poppies I had in the garden at my last house (must try and grow some next year).  Although I used a petal die for this, I think it would work just as well making the petals from a couple of different sized circles - using the embossing tool really softens and shapes the crepe paper nicely. 

That's all for this time  - thanks for looking

Playing with paint 2

Hello

Have you opened those cute little pots of acrylic paint yet?  If you're like me and a little bit artistically-challenged maybe you're a bit nervous about using paint on your projects?  Here's a little idea that might make it all a little easier

I used a stencil cut with my Silhouette Cameo to make this tree, but I think you'd get a really pretty result using ready made stencils - it would certainly add extra interest to them

What do you think to my paint palette?  As a hayfever sufferer I get through loads of those plastic and foil capsule "trays" - I always keep a couple of empty ones on my craft desk.  By picking off as much of the foil as you can and then popping the little divots back into shape you end up with the perfect little trays for when you want to use small amounts of paint or ink.  My other tool for this project are cotton buds - I've seen similar projects using the eraser end of a pencil.
I work with a sheet of paper under my project so that I can dab the end of the cotton bud on paper first in case I've over coloured it

So, with my stencil taped in place with some washi tape, I put a little of each colour paint in the tray (I added a small amount of white to the 2 deeper colours), and one end of a cotton bud for each colour all I did was dab the dots of paint over the top until all the holes in the stencil were filled

 Once dry, I used a sponge with some blue decorating chalks to add some colour around the tree
The finished piece was adhered to white card, I added a length of blue seam binding around this then fixed itto the dark blue base card.
The sentiment is one of the lawn Fawn stamps from the kit, stamped in "Paris Dusk" (Momento) ink. 
I made a double bow with more seam binding and twisted a couple of wired flowers and pearls around it before fixing to the card
To finish I added a few flat-backed pearls over some of the little stencilled  circles on the tree

From the kit I used:

Acrylic paints

Lawn Fawn stamps

From my stash:

Seam binding, Wired flowers, Wired pearls, flat-backed pearls

You'll probably think of lots of ways to use this technique - it works well with ink as well as paint, and you can use it for filling a larger area too - lile a heart, or maybe the petals of a large flower - I hope you'll give it a try

Thanks for visiting

Playing with Paint 1

 Hello

I thought it was about time I made use of those cute pots of acrylic paints and the lovely lawn Fawn stamps that came in my Quirky Kit box.  I'm no artist, so haven't much of a clue what I'm doing, but you know, it's fun to step out of the comfort zone sometimes and I did enjoy plying with these paints.

I think that maybe the best thing is to keep it simple - well it is for me, anyway!  So I used the foam brush and 3 of the paints to just paint simple stripes, adding a bit of water to soften the edges.  I painted two pieces of card this way, one with the blue/greens and the other with the lemon/pinks

Next I had to decide what to do with them.  I liked the idea of the colours showing through some sort of pattern, something like a die-cut panel - I've seen some lovely designs.....but I don't have any of them, so I needed to improvise.

I do have a Silhouette Cameo, so I looked through my cutting files for something to use and came up with this one, I altered the shape to cut a rectangular panel instead to the original square then cut it in plain white card.

Next, I use the "blank" left after cutting as a template to cut the coloured piece to the right size and shape. You can see the pieces on the right of the photo above

Just having the decorative panel on a plain white card looked a bit too dull so I took a deep breath (hoping that I wouldn't simply make a horrible mess) and using a bamboo skewer and just a little of the same paints, I flicked some spots onto the righthand side of my card blank.

Once it was absolutely dry I adhered the panel to the left of the card.

The sentiment is one of the Lawn Fawn stamp set from the kit.  I stamped it on a scrap of white card, attached it to the remaining strip of the painted card and cut into a banner shape.

At this point I decided that I would like the banner to go off the edge of the card, so I trimmed about 1.5cm off the side of the card (so that it would still fit in the correct envelope), and fixed the sentiment in place so that it juts off the edge - there's a little scrap of chip board under the HELLO part of the banner so that it all lies nice and level

Kit items used:

Acrylic Paints

Foam Brush

Lawn Fawn stamps

I'll be back soon to show you a different painty project, and I've also made a card using that peachy pink piece in the photo to share later on

Thanks for looking

At the Seaside card

Hello

Kathy here again with an almost Clean and Simple card to share with you.

I absolutely adore the Websters Pages "Feeling Nautical" paper that I found in the "selection box"  Leo put together from the newest kits for me to play with.

There are lots of beautiful and tempting goodies in there, but this paper is (probably) my favourite and I think I have been very brave by cutting into it!  As you'll see, I only used a little bit though!

Kit stash used:

 "Feeling Nautical" paper - Websters Pages

 "Granville" paper - Shimelle AC

Scraps from various other papers in my box for the bunting

I cut a strip pr the patterned paper,  I wanted the whole of the lighthouse to show, so used that to determine the height, then cut a strip of the "Granville" paper, just slightly wider for the backing strip.

I cut out and glued onto some scrap card a detail from the paper to make the "badge" as it seemed the perfect sentiment for the card.   I used a Spellbinders circle die to cut and emboss it, then inked around the edges and added a smaller card circle on the reverse for extra dimension

The bunting is just hand-cut with scissors from whichever bits of paper in the kit matched the colou8rs in the main design.  You know those bits you get on the bottom of sheets of paper where the maker's info is?  Well.they often have little colour match strips too, which are just perfect for cutting bunting from ;)

My tip of the day comes next - I didn't have any twine of the right colours to use on this card so I inked some natural-coloured stuff to match - now that's not much of a tip, you probably do that already - but it's a messy old thing to do isn't it?  So here's my tip - "bandage" your index finger with sticky tape (not to tightly or it's hard to get off later),  Cut the twine longer than you need so you can leave the ends clean, starting an inch or so from the end press and hold the twine into the ink pad with your taped up finger and pull through a couple of times.  If there are still uninked areas, put the twine on some scrap paper and just use the ink remaining on your taped finger to cover those bits - just remember to leave it to dry before using it. 

That's it for this time, thanks for visiting, back again soon with more