Shabby Chic

I love shabby chic, especially with regards to vintage elements. The way I like to think of shabby chic is to mix old with new so that's what I had in mind with response to this weeks daring card makers challenge....

I used a Jenni Bowlin journalling card and stitched on some vintage buttons, made the main embellishment with a piece of scrap packaging cut out with a nestabilities die and then embellished with some Sassafras Sweet Treats stickers. The bit of ribbon and string is tied around the card to hold on the button card and the embellishment glued on top to hold everything in place. The flowers I made with fabric. I also added a button to the envelope flap. It's a card and a gift in one I guess. I know if I got a card with buttons on I'd want to cut them off so why not make a card that is tailored to that anyhow and the recycling cool old stuff can continue :-D

I also made a shabby chic inspired envelope, I just thought why should a card always get the decorating, why not decorate the envelope and have a simple card inside {or do both!}. Might make a few people smile as it goes though the post too, got to be more fun than sorting all those ordinary white and brown ones?

Everything paperie is Sassafras and there's a little bit of woodgrain tape and buttons from my Quirky Kit.

xx

Home

I do love my interior design so I couldn't pass up a home inspired challenge over on Moxie Fab World, go check it out if you fancy a go & a peek at more home inspired projects it's here.

I decided to make notecards, I've been making a big stack of them just lately while I've got chance as I've completely run out and I like popping them in parcels. These were really simple to make, made just like the interior cards from a previous post. I freehand sketched the teacup and lamp shapes on to patterned paper, cut them out, reassembled them and popped them on a notecard - these are made on recycled packaging just chopped up to 4x6. Papers are a mix of October Afternoon, American Crafts and Sassafras.

xx Leo

Go check it out.....

Ribbon Oasis now have a new blog and if you pop along right now there's some ribbon candy on offer! Go check it out here, http://ribbonoasis.blogspot.com/2009/09/ribbon-candy.html

xx Leo

Merry Christmas!

Nope you haven't skipped a few months it's not Christmas yet, not even close really but I have been making sample Christmas cards all weekend. I also made this for a challenge over on Moxie Fab World you can check it out and have a go yourself here. There's always loads of cool cards to be inspired by :)

The challenge is to use stamps to make a festive holiday card/project. Now since I've been using new festive stash all weekend I figured I'd break out of that and make a holiday card without any particularly festive supplies. The card base was made from packaging and I picked out some yummy Sassafras Amplify papers to decorate it with. The robot stamp is an old BamPop one stamped on more packaging card and cut out. The little Santa hat I cut out from felt and then just added a bit of fabric, stitching and a pom pom. The bow is made from Jenni Bowlin crepe paper ribbon and I also added a bit more stamping using a date stamp. The ickle letter stickers are from My Little Shoebox.

xx Leo

Blog needs an update.....

Aggghh can't believe it's been so long since I updated my blog! Well it has been summer so I've been enjoying that in between being mega busy. I have been updating the Crafty Templates blog with a few things I've been making this past few weeks. I've also got some stuff to share I did a while back but haven't posted up yet......

I made myself a new noticeboard and turned some American Crafts Flair into push pins just by gluing flat topped push pins to the backs with a hot glue gun. I was thinking you could also do the same with buttons - will have to experiment!

A shaker card, I'm thinking shaker cards need to make a come back, I'm not sure if they ever went away though lol. Loads of American Crafts goodies on this one too. The shaker box I made with nestabilities. I cut a shape out from card, covered it with patterned paper then cut out a matching frame shape from thick card, layering that with a piece of acetate and then finishing it off by adding the same frame shape cut from paper to decorate it. The thickness of the card frame creates the shaker box so you need to make sure it's slightly deeper than what you're filling your box with - in this instance buttons. Oh and make sure you add your shaker bits before you stick it all together, nearly forgot that bit!

This is the card I did ages ago with my October Afternoon leftovers and it's in this months Cards mag! I was having a flick this morning there's loads more fab inspro in there defo recommend it. Took that photo in July when it was warm, wish it was that warm now I've already invested in my winter coat it's that cold! Brrrrr

I'm off to do some cards now so I should have something new to share, I've got a congratulations card to make and some samples to start for CT. Got a nice new box of Bazzill dotted swiss card to dip into - makes it so much more fun when you've got new stash to use doesn't it!

xx Leo

ETA Moley the base card I made with a piece of acetate cut into 10x7 and scored then folded in half. xx

Me Likey a Loty & DMC

I had a quick go at this weeks DCM challenge to make a card with decorative edges. When I think decorative edges I think Sassafras and it just so happened I had a nice pile of new papers to play with :D
I decided to make a zig zaggy card because I'm really getting into decorating whole cards at the mo (instead of just decorating the front adding stuff to the inside too) but when I came to photo it to post up discovered how difficult it is to photo three sides at once!
Oh well. I made three piccys...

I picked out the Sassafras Me Likey papers, chopping the gorge scalloped edge trims from the bottoms to layer up along with some rolled paper strips. I just cut out some of the characters from the paper to decorate with and added some flowers made with paper and felt buttons. I'm going to tie it up with ribbon to send it.

xx TFL

Rock & Roll

Just finished this up last night. It's my go at this weeks American Crafts blog challenge. This week it's making a LO that is inspired by music and I went a bit literal with my LO and picked a musicish photo and then went from there. Everything bar the felt buttons are from American Crafts. The strips are ribbons and patterned paper, some of the details I cut out from the Teen line paper too. Also used Rockstar miniMarks rubons and Flair from the 'Smile' pack. The title is Thickers, Shoebox I think, they're the raw chipboard ones and I've altered them with a silver Galaxy Marker and a black outline pen

I also made some extra star embellishments from shrink plastic, just drawing onto scraps of it, colouring in with silver and gold Galaxy markers and then shrinking down.

xx

Illustration & Interiors

I've been really busy just lately and neglecting my blog so I'm going to try and keep up with the updating!

I've been making some illustration type drawing this past week for various things and I thought of using the idea for some cards so I set to it and had a little go. I just sketched some drawings on patterned paper with pen and then cut them out, simple as that. I'm loving these seasidey colours just lately too.

Papers, Flair embellishment, miniMarks rubons and card blanks are all American Crafts.

xx

Howzat!

Woohoo! England have just beaten Australia at Lords for the first time in 75 years! And we go up 1-0 in the Ashes series!!!! Amazing work England, it was brilliant to watch. Hope they win when they head up here to Headingly, although it will probably rain and end up in a draw.... :(


Anyway cricket linkage here's a LO I did recently, Englands next star wicket keeper.. narr just my pops although he can't be bad if he can catch a ball with his eyes closed! lol Been wanting to scrap this for a while so glad I finally got around to it. I've been playing with the new October Afternoon Road Map papers. The one with the numbers on at the bottom is a Cherry Hill one and the herringbone one is one from the Hometown collection all October Afternoon. Rest is American Crafts Thickers stickers, Making Memories shimmer alphas (the little ones) and some vintage buttons. I made a card with some of the leftovers some Cherry Hill diecuts and more lush Thickers but it's going in the next issue of Card Trends so I'll save it for that. ;)
Have got some more card ideas to share though, will put those up later.
xx

This Cat Rocks

My go at this weeks American Crafts challenge to use a mahoosive photo on a layout. I guess it didn't have to be as mahoosive as this one but why not right?

The photo is pretty scary so I thought I'd go with a punk kind of vibe and I made a 'wall' up as the background hand cutting out lots of different American Crafts papers (Craft Fair, Teen, Character, Amplified). The photo then went on top and then I added some doodling with gel pens, black Stickles and Galaxy Markers. The title was next, I it made up of Rock Star miniMarks, Sprinkles Glitter Thickers and raw Shoebox chipboard Thickers which I sprayed with purple ink and then doodled around. To finish I added a little ribbon, some Flair and a butterfly hand cut out and covered with Distress Stickles.

xx Leo

October Afternoon Blog challenge

There's some fab inspirational sketches & cards on the October Afternoon blog this week here.

I picked out this one:

And made this card:

Used some 'Norms News' paper from the Hometown collection and 'Cookie Jar' from the Cherry Hill collection. I added the sentiment to a Cherry Hill label sticker. The embellishment is made of two stacked buttons from my stash.

xx Leo

More pretty pictures 2 inspire

I've been sticking some of these in my inspiration notebook how scrummy are they!?! I've been looking for cool melamine plates and cups for a project mum's working on (she does interior design) and I found some made by a company called rice and when I went to investimagate further found the most amazing website with loads of inspirational goodies..... This is one of the plates I found first.

Love these

How cute would one of these be on a card

I need all these bedspreads!!
Love the colour combo on these combs and the details.
These are clothes pegs but how cute would they be as a minibook closure!

xx

Oh and I did make cake the other day - couldn't decide what kind to make so made some neopoliatan style ones (chocolate+strawberry+vanillia). I'm going to make a whole big cake version another time - will be very cool when it's sliced up to reveal all the colours :D

xx

When it's grey and rainy.....

.....you need pretty things to look at

I'm sorting though the last things arriving for the next Quirky kit and even though it's such a miserable rainy day I can't help but have a big cheesy grin when I'm looking though all the goodness. I'm going to spend the afternoon baking cakes with mum later too so I might have to take more pretty piccys. :)

Sweet October Afternoon

Card made for the October Afternoon blog challenge here. Couldn't wait for an excuse to break into my new goodies!

Supplies: October Afternoon Cherry Hill, 'Tea Towel' and 'Cookie Jar' Weathervane 'Chilly Mornings', Rosie's Diner stamps, Cherry Hill cardstock label sticker. Banana Frog 'paperchains' stamps, Technique Tuesday 'swiss dots' stamp.

xx

Ad Inspired

This was great fun to make, my LO for the ad inspired challenge over on the American Crafts blog. I picked out this advert from a mag:

and this is the LO I came up with:

I loved the graffiti effect on the ad so I went with that as my background spritzing on some black ink over some kraft Bazzill - took an age to dry but I love the effect! The rest of the ad I picked up on was framing the photo in a Polaroid style frame - that's just some AC white cardstock. The little bits of confetti I cut out from the packaging of the Rock Star accents miniMarks and the title is made up of the Rock Star and IM Phrases miniMarks. Also used some American Crafts Flair embellies. The crochet flower is a Bazzill one I think then just random buttons from my stash.

I really enjoyed making this one so will defo have a play with ad inspiration again!

xx Leo

Character

I made this LO following the challenge on the American Crafts Blog to make a LO using 4 or more of the Character line of papers. I picked out Tribune, Planet, Times, Telegraph and Post. I just chopped out the Tribune, Planet, Times and Post papers to reflect the images of the stacked books in the photo and then used the back of the Telegraph paper to make a matt for the photo and Thickers which looks black in the photo but it is a fab deep inky blue colour just like carbon paper. I ordered these online and I much prefer them in real life to how they look onscreen :) The Thickers are Rockabye in white and Puffy Chit Chat in Tangerine and I made a little embellie with a yoyo and some Flair in the center.

xx Leo

Crafty Jewellery

I love experimenting and making something out of hardly anything. Last night I had a play and made these cute rings out of the smallest pieces of left over fabric, recycled fiber filling and buttons. The ring bases I had in my jewellery stash you can get them for pence from jewellery finding suppliers.They're really easy to make. All I did was choose a button for the base - the same size as the motif on the fabric, centered the button on the motif and then did a running stitch about 1.5cm from the edge of the button. I added some filling and then the button on top and then just pulled the thread so it gathered around and then stitched back and forth to get rid of all the puckers. I used another piece of fabric stuck over the back to hide the stitching and then the glue gun to attach it to the ring base. Really simple!

Will defo be having a play with some more fabric/jewellery ideas. I love this necklace I made last year so I'm thinking I'll be making some more for this summer. These are sew simple too you just make a tube of fabric the same width as the beads you want to use and pop them inside the tube making a knot after each one. You can make the tube as long as you want but you need to at least double the length you want your finished necklace to be so you have enough for knotting.

xx Leo

Hi!

Quick card I put together inspired by this weeks DCM challenge, Supersize me! This week the dare is to use big big embellishments - namely paper flowers so I did use some of my hoard of blooms and layered up a few then used some fabric in the middle and carried on the layering making a button stack in the center.

All the goodies bar the blooms are American Crafts (cardstock, Thickers, ribbon and Craft Fair papers & Flair badge). Those fabric Thickers are my current obsession, they've duped the foam ones to be my favorite Thickers!

I've not updated with new stuff for a bit so I'll share some quick snaps...............

Another current retro crafty thing I'm loving - pom poms! I got a big pile of super delish wool from my haberdashers so I've been away making them, this one is about 1" across so I'm going to make more and make a necklace I think. The polka dot box is something that's sat on my desk inspiring me. The paper is one of a new set I've been designing for Crafty Templates - that's what's keeping me busiest this past few weeks!

Also wanted to share this....
It's the most super handy thing I've ever made because it keeps thread and needles together in one place! I saw the idea here and then adapted it to a jam jar so I could fill it with my bits of embroidery thread to keep with my needles. Super handy for sewing buttons on cards and LO's which I always am and if you are too I can defo recommend making yourself one :)
xx Leo

Scrapping on the edge

I've not had that much time for crafty fun this past week but I did have a play at this weeks Scrap Like you Mean it challenge over on UK Scrappers. This week the theme is to 'Scrap on the edge'. I took mine a bit literally and picked out a photo I took from the edge of the Black Rocks in Derbyshire. I followed the 'high up' theme and picked out some clouds to use too. The stamp is from the Sassafras Oliver and Friends set and it's stamped all around the edge and then cut out to make a decorative edge. The cloud stickers are Sassafras too as are most of the papers, there is one little bit of October Afternoon cloudy paper in there too, Bazzill card and American Crafts Thickers that I've printed over with bubble wrap. The rest is leftovers from kits. I'm getting quite good at using up my leftover bits and pieces although as I'm using them up they do seem to keep piling up just as quickly - how does that happen??

xx Leo

Another quick LO

I made this LO last night just playing around with some yummy papers. I've been printing a bunch of these kinds of heritage photos out to use for a mini book I'll be making for a birthday gift and I wanted to scrap a few for my own albums....

Papers are American Crafts from the 'Craft Fair' range, foam Thickers (Daiquiri & Lullaby) and a 'Flair' adhesive badge again from the cute 'Craft Fair' range called 'Made with love'. Cardstock is American Crafts 'Coffee' and Bazzill kraft.


It's lots more 3D in real life it's hard to show in the photo I keep using up all my 3D foam pads on my layouts when they used to go just on cards - weird how things change up like that!



xx

Note to Self

I've been playing with my Note to Self Quirky kit this weekend and so far I made a book...

Other side of the bookmark -

It's an accordion book I've made just taping together pieces of card and spare card blanks. The cover I've made with board covered with fabric and embellies from the kit and my stash (added the yellow ribbon, flower button, Primas and polka dot gaffer tape). I used some of the little Sassafras paper Whimsies cards - two if them just glued together with ribbon fixed in the center to make a bookmark with. The other half of the ribbon is fixed inside the cover so it's always handy to save a place. I'm not sure what's going to go in there yet but probably lots of cute inspirational stuff - stuff to inspire future Quirky kits maybe :-D
I also used some more Sassafras to make a quick card for Julie {Julie if you're reading it's going in the post now!}.

I used more Sassafras Paper Whimsies cards with a bit of paper and some Sweet Treats Stickers then stamped on the message.
Julie has been and is making loads of cute stuff with my Quirky kit and it's looking v cool - check out her blog for a peek I think everything is going up there - http://www.notesonpaper.blogspot.com/ loads of inspiring stuff there anyway :-D

xx Leo

Happy Spring!

It's official it's defo spring time! I've had my good spring clean out - sorted out unwanted clothes for charity from my wardrobe and added a few cute springy outfits to it - got a cute blazer jacket so I'm really hoping it doesn't rain too much so I can actually wear it! Blazer jacket rolled up jeans and Birki's mmmm need to make some new jewellery now too...

I also spring cleaned my stash so I treated myself to a few new bits and pieces including lots of yummy Sassafras! So I've been playing......

First a card for this weeks DMC challenge which had to have bunnies or chicks on - I cut out some of pieces from one of the Vintage Yummy Sassafras papers with a little bunny on and one with cute little birdies on so I guess I have a little bit of both!

My desk is still a bit messy so I need to spring clean it up a bit but I did make a cute windmill decoration from some leftover paper to add some lovely springy colour to it!

Also made a layout. I cut up a few different papers and used some Sweet Treats stickers to make a little collage
By this time I'd got a few scraps laying around so I made another quick card...

Then I found out some more little off cut bits of Sassafras I had and couldn't resist making another bunny card. This one is going to be for my aunty Jen I think because she loves bunnies just like me :-)

Then it got too dark to play :-(

I'm off to a mini foodie party now although I have just been informed there will be no pizza - no pizza - rubbish! Moroccan stuff apparently - I'm sure they have pizza in Morocco right? lol

xx Leo

Thickers!

I love Thickers so I had to have a play at the challenge on the American Crafts blog this week. The challenge is to use 3 different Thickers on one project. I combined my go with this weeks Scrap Like you Mean it challenge too.......

I used American Crafts Lullaby foam Thickers in Sunflower, Chit Chat Puffy Thickers in Tangerine, Daiquiri foam Thickers in pink and green and Sprinkles Glitter Thickers in black. The papers are American Crafts 'Craft Fair'.

I also made a little card with some of the left over bits + some American Crafts mini Marks and a bit more paper......

xx Leo