Winter's Kiss envelope

As soon as I saw my new RHS magazine I knew exactly what I was going to do with the envelope it came in, which always has a picture of the magazine cover on it.  This month it was a beautiful icy rose image and with a background that matched the Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink perfectly, it was just asking to go in a junk journal. 

In the same post was a nice large envelope, so I used the Artisan Design Snowflake mask to make a pretty background for the rose and the wording, and trimmed it with some glittery washi tape.  Quick and easy but I think it's so pretty, and I'll add it to a Christmassy journal I've started creating.

Christmas Carol Challenge and Swap

It's definitely a Christmas Carol theme this Christmas - firstly the Dickens novel was our book club read for December, then I took part in a challenge which involved making a card and a mixed media piece, one to be based on the Dickens and the other to be any Christmas carol, using Artisan Design products.  Then the carol theme was chosen for a 6x6 scrapbook page swap on the My Makes forum.

These are my makes for the challenge.  My card is "In the Bleak Midwinter" with some suitably wintry looking deer and a village scene, and for my mixed media piece I took a canvas board and used Distress Oxides on photo paper to give a stone effect for Scrooge's headstone.  The lettering was done by hand. In both I have used the Artisan Design Snowflake mask and Distress Oxides as a background, and in the Scrooge one I've used the AD Fern stamp to add some foliage round the stone.  Flock made a nice snowy effect on both.

I made a similar style Bleak Midwinter scrapbook page for one of the swaps, and the other was inspired by The Holly and The Ivy.

I was lucky enough to be a winner in the challenge and received this wonderful prize of a set of Faber Castell watercolour pencils.

Christmas Tree Tag

I've learned how to make an origami Christmas tree for a tag swap - very simple but I liked the technique so I made another one to go on the front of a card too. The background of the tag is an embossing folder from Couture Creations and the card background is the Snowflake mask from Artisan Design Group UK.  The papers were magazine cover mounts from my stash. I learned from a video on the Newbie Junk Journal Facebook group, but there are instructions on YouTube and Pinterest if you search for origami Christmas tree. Do have a go, it's very easy to do.

Tag

Card

Flow-type journal cover

I turned a 20p hardback book from a charity shop into this cover for a flow-type journal.  Once the pages were removed I gessoed the cover and added some torn scraps of book paper, then used three colours of my brand-new Brushos to colour it purples and blues.  I really enjoyed playing with the Brushos and plan on trying out some more techniques soon.  I stencilled the front cover with an alphabet stencil and the back with the Daisy Burst stencil from Artisan Design.  I used matt gel through the stencils and once it was dry highlighted it with Diamond Starlight Wax and added a beaded dangle to the spine. 

The inside was lined with an off-cut of wallpaper. As it's going to be a flow-type journal, which will hold papers, envelopes etc. for the recipient to use in her own journal making, I decided to use elastic cord to hold the contents in. I made an inside spine and tied the elastic round that so it wasn't visible on the outside and trimmed it with Washi tape.

Here's the finished journal, stuffed full of goodies!

Sew Loved Journal

I made this journal based on the Sew Loved digital kit from melodimade.com.  I was part of the design team and it was a great privilege to be given the journal kit to play with.  I also used some images from Calico Collage, the Paper Craft Tutor and my stash, including the instruction manual from the vintage sewing machine we found in the loft when we moved here!

New Home card

A New Home card using Artisan Design UK's Sycamore stencil, distress inks in shades of green and blue and some magazine covermount stamps from my stash. Quick tip - stencil glue is fabulous for stopping stencils from slipping, and it doesn't lift the paper, unlike Washi tape.

All the best to Pete and Paul in their new home!

I'm in print!

I was so excited to see that there's an article about me and my crafting in this month's WI Life magazine.  I was interviewed and photographed a while back and finally I'm in print!  Thank you Chloe Davies for writing the article and Rhondell from RELM Photography for the great pictures, and to everyone from NJJM and FJJP who have sent me the RAKs and swaps in some of the photos.  Look closely and you may spot some of your work!

Halloween Stuffed Pocket

I don't normally do much for Halloween but this is a stuffed pocket I made for a swap on the Newbie Junk Journal Makers Facebook group.  The basis is a 9" x 12" strip of paper, folded lengthways to make a 4.5" x 12" strip and scored at 5" from the bottom to make the first pocket.  The middle pocket is 4.5" wide by 3" .  I made it double thickness for strength so I cut a piece 4.5" x 6" and folded it in half.  The third pocket is 4.5" x 1.5" so I cut 4.5" x 3" and again folded it in half.  You could of course make them 9" wide and fold them in half the other way, it depends what size your scraps of paper are. Just be careful of using one-way designs: make sure they are the right way up when folded.

The pockets all line up at the base. I made them all top-loading so glued both sides and the bottom. I trimmed the top of the largest pocket with lace, the middle with gold ball chain and the bottom one with spotty ribbon.  I also added a parade of spiders from some Halloween table confetti.

I used the packaging from the confetti to make a couple of pockets on the back as well.  The idea of the swap was to add plenty of Halloween ephemera, so I printed some tags and journalling cards from Calico Collage and the Graphics Fairy, and added some elements from a Halloween bunting.

One well and truly stuffed Halloween pocket. I hope the recipient will enjoy it.

Authentic Soul journal embellishments

I was lucky enough to be a member of the design team for the Authentic Soul Boho digital kit from Melodimade.com in September.  I have made various embellishments from the kit, including tags, envelopes and a library pocket, and I've had some fun with altered paperclips, a ticket strip and even a giant piece from a child's jigsaw puzzle.

It really is a beautiful kit with a great boho feel, do check it out.  I just love those fairy doors!

Printing with shaving foam

Some Artist Trading Coins I've made for an Artisan Design UK challenge. The marbled background is made using shaving foam printing (the challenge theme) and I've stencilled Sparkle Medium on two and glass bead gel on the third to make waves using the Laurel Burst mask from the Stacy's Garden Collection. 

If you've never tried printing with shaving foam you really should give it a go - it's very easy and it makes the craft room smell wonderful too!  All you do is spray a good layer of shaving foam into a tray big enough to take a sheet of paper, drop some inks or paints on top and swirl it with a stick to make a marble pattern, lay your paper on top and rub the back gently, peel it off and leave it to stand for about five minutes, then scrape off the foam and reveal your print.  Keep going with the foam, you can add more paint or ink as needed and gets loads of prints in one session - just make sure you've got enough room to lay them all out to dry.  I used the shower squeegee to scrape off the foam but you can easily do it with a scrap piece of card.  The only thing I had to buy was a cheap can of shaving foam, as hubby has a beard!

After covering the coin blanks with the paper I added stencilling with Sparkle Medium and glass bead gel to add a seaspray effect, using a mask from Artisan Design's Stacy's Garden Collection.  The pattern is actually laurel leaves, but it's such a versatile design it can be used for all sorts of effects. The dolphins and turtle were from an old calendar, the orca is a sticker, and I finished off with some eyelash yarn and some handwritten words.

Pocket Tag

The April RAK Challenge on Newbie Junk Journal Makers was to make a pocket tag using a number of randomly selected prompts: whimsical/humorous, the colour blue, using a punch and recycling a tissue box among them.  I thought, pocket tag - what has pockets?  Inspiration came in the form of an apron, with some whimsical tags, and I managed to use all the prompts.  

Trifold Tag

 This trifold tag was made for the #NJJM Crazy 8 swap - we were given a number of prompts to and I managed to include them all.  Lace - is used to tie the tag.  Butterfly - there are some on one of the papers and I added a sticker to one of the tuck spots.  Purple - there are some purple touches to some of the cupcakes.  Glitter or foil - I used glitter card for the diecut on the front and as part of one of the smaller tags.  Washi tape - used to adhere the journalling section. Ink/paint/marker - I've edged with Distress Ink.  Book paper - covering the back. Eyelet/brad - on each of the main tags.

The images came from a couple of old birthday cards, I was inspired by Melodi Huey's live video where she was going through some old cards and I just got some out and found exactly what I wanted straight away.  Thank you Melodi!  If you don't know the Newbie Junk Journal Makers FaceBook group, please do go and check it out, it's a fun place to hang out and make new friends.