Decorated Envelope Minibook

Ok here's the decorated envelope minibook I did yesterday afternoon....

I kept some of the envelope showing through on the cover and used cut out pieces of patterned paper and some trims, fabric flowers and stickers.

Some of the inside pages, just the photos to add in.

Some of the pages I made into pockets by trimming off the top of the envelope page then made little tags with off cuts of card and the shapes decorating the top are nestabilities diecuts cut in half then glued on back to back.

xx Leo

Work Desk Wednesday Again

It's workdesk Wednesday again! Well not added much to the old blog this week, not been up to much crafty stuff this week the weather has been far too good! Rain has resumed though today so it's a good excuse to have a little play.

Still some things from last week left on the go and been pushed to the back of my desk, that's so bad right but I bet we all do it! I've always got a few things that are half finished hanging around. I'm just about to start making an envelope mini book. I had a few leftover bits and pieces from kits in the store so I put together some little project kits including this one. I've kept one for me though and I'm going to put one together as a cute little birthday gift instead of a card. I should be finished up soon so I'll pop a piccy of it finished up. They're very easy to make just a case of getting a stack of envelopes and gluing them on top of each other using the flaps.

The flaps act as little hinges on each page. You can keep some of the envelopes open to pop little bits inside or cover them over completely with patterned paper.

Still haven't done anything with those candy canes!
xx Leo

What's on your Workdesk Wednesday

I keep seeing this posted up on Kathy's blog and since I was looking to be easily distracted from work to do today, today I'm playing along for the first time :).

My desk is completely messy, it almost always is although it usually gets a tidy up every now and then, usually when there is no more room for a fresh 'pile' of 'stuff'.

Today I've got a few things on the go. I'm working on some colours and patterns for a new project and have scribbled some ideas down in my notebook. I've got three projects made from Quirky Kits I've almost completed, some embroidery and a not so mini minibook. There's also my broken bow ring that needs mending when I have time, it got wet and fell apart, bit of super glue should do the trick I'm hoping.

I found those candy canes a few weeks ago and thought they'd look cute on cards but I've as yet to think of a way to use them so maybe I should make that a project to finish for next Wednesday?

xx Leo

Use it up

I'm trying this year to use up leftovers as much as possible. One thing I have found is that leftovers tend to have a habit of accumulating - with the good intention that they will get used someday - into a larger and larger and larger collection. Because of this I am now trying to use leftovers more as they're made rather than squirrelling them away. It does have an added benefit that you're not searching around for the right bit of paper to use, it's a go to the latest pile and start using kind of gig. One of my favorite things to do is to makes cut outs and shapes from leftover papers or draw on them and cut out drawings I particularly like. It's defo a fun thing to have a go at. I started adding to my depleted pile of notecards this weekend with these 'Fancy Dress' cards.
These first two I made with templates I'd done for Crafty Templates:

After that I started just drawing on the paper. This was my fave one....

So yeah, scribbling on patterned paper leftovers, defo something to have a play with.

xx Leo

Linby the templates are in the May subscription set, so you need to click on template subscriptions but if you want just the dress sheet let me know. xx

Pull up a Chair & Chillax

Browsing through the Moxie Fab blog yesterday I came across the 'Three Cheers for Chairs' challenge. It's so quirky I had to have a play. You have to make something paper crafty that features a chair/chairs. I wasn't sure what to do but I did have the idea in my head to make an easel card because of this weeks DMC challenge so that's what I ended up with. The chair I just sketched out on a piece of card then cut it out and added a bit of colour with Promarkers. The cushions I sketched on to some Prima patterned papers and cut them out then added them on top. That's pretty much it. I added AC Thickers for the title and the alpha stickers are October Afternoon Mini Market stickers.

I wasn't sure how to spell out 'chillax' it's one of those funny slang words that everyone says and nobody spells!
xx Leo

Millinery Operation

I do love fashion - so it makes sense that it's double the fun for me to combine fashion with crafting and create some fun stuff. I'm going to try and instill the fun-ness in you too if you're reading this so you can go on and make some fun fashion. Here's what I've been making today.........

If you want to make your own here's a quick how to......

You'll need some strips of leftover fabric, a plain hairband, some pretty Prima flowers or other embellies you like, some net and a needle and cotton.

First you need to make a 'tube' with your fabric so take one of your strips of fabric and folding it inside out stitch down one edge. When it's long enough to cover your hairband sew the edge across and trim the end. Leave the open end open.

Next you need to turn the fabric the right way around. The easiest way to do this is using a pencil to push the fabric the right way around. Thread the tube of fabric over the top of your hairband and stitch the open end closed.

Take another strip of fabric that co-ordinates with your other fabric and sew a running stitch down one edge. Pull the thread to gather your strip into a circle and then stitch the ends together keeping the fabric taught. Take the net and sew your rosette over the top using a few stitches in the centre. Trim the net around the rosette leaving a small edge.

Take some flowers and glue them in a cluster on top of your rosette. If you wanted to you can seal the flowers with clear varnish or glossy accents. Finally glue this to your hairband.

Pretty simple right? Really addictive too you can go really crazy making all different kinds of fun fashion accessories. :)

xx Leo

Week in the life 2010

This past week has gone by in a big whiz! I'm hoping I'll be able to keep up with this next week because I'm going to try and document it for a week in the life. I didn't need to buy anything extra and I wanted my book to be small so it can go inside my year long 2010 album so I had a snoop around to see what I could find. After a spring clean the other week I found an old postcard book, with the invention of email these things are hardly useful anymore but I'm kind of a stationary collector so I guess that's why I have blank postcards! Anyway the small size made them perfect for a book and it turned out {luckily} I had exactly 14 left, 2 for every day!

The book is bound with paper scraps and cover made with things I had on my desk, mostly October Afternoon 'Thrift Shop' papers and a little bit of kraft card. I've used a date stamp and some Banana Frog stamps to add the days on.

I'm thinking of adding journalling to the front of the postcard and then just covering the back and extra postcards with photos and mementos. Will have to see how it progresses, these things are usually pretty organic once they get going right?

xx Leo

Flair week challenge ~ wedding card

Been super busy this last couple of weeks but I've had to jam in a little bit of crafting time because I wanted to make a wedding card, wedding is tomorrow, (Friday) so I didn't have much time to think of something so looked online for a challenge or some ideas and found the American Crafts Flair challenge. I'm a bit of a Flair collector so it seemed perfect! I wanted to use some of my new American Crafts Dear Lizzy goodies too. I picked out the American Crafts Dear Lizzy Spring 'Lazy Ladybug' patterned paper and because it was a wedding card I went for the 'Romance' Flair and picked out two from the 'love' pack. I also used some 'Salutations' fabric Thickers, they go with the romance theme I think?

The card I made out of white cardstock first and I added a little depth to it to take the chunky embellishments.

The flowers were made with more of the same paper, (used the reverse side) with pearls in the centers and then some added tissue paper flowers and pearl buttons.

Then because it does have depth I had to make a box for it. It'll make it more of a prezzie too as it's going to have some pennies inside.

I wasn't sure about leaving the front so plain but I think it works because there's lots of detail inside?

xx Leo

Create 10

OK here's a peek of the scrapbooking I did the other day for Create 10. This one is for project #2 it's going to be all about how you can use the smallest amount of leftovers to create a page with :)

I've been planning all these projects for ages so I'm really happy I'm finally getting them done and I'm really looking forward to Create 10 kicking off! Sign ups for the workshop are live now on the CT site here.
Got a card to make this afternoon so I need to crack on with that it's for tomorrow so not got much time, yikes!
xx Leo

Shabby Chic

Hey
If you have a peek on UK Scrappers this week you can check out and download a fabric scrapbook project I made. I love love texture so I made a page from fabric and picked out some vintage photos to use. I've got a great collection of vintage photos from my grandparents and I'm definitely going to make more time to scrapbook more of them this year.

The theme was vintage so I went for a shabby chic look and used some vintage bits and pieces including some vintage buttons which you can grab from the store here. Don't you just love pretty vintage buttons?

I'm busy working on a special project at the moment for a new workshop called Create 10. It's going to be so much fun. It's basically a collection of 10 scrapbooking projects to either build up into a collection to follow at your leisure or follow in the 10 days and really challenge yourself. I've been planning some of the projects for a while and now I'm having fun putting the pages together. It is a bit scary though too I hope people like them! I'm trying to pick up on current trends as well as look a little bit forward and show future trends too. So should defo be fun!

xx Leo

Postmarked American Crafts

My blog hasn't had an update in a while I know I know. I've been a little bit ill, for like the whole of February so that's just gone by in a blur. I'm still not 100% but I've been convalescing with an enjoyable afternoon of cardmaking.
I decided to have a go at the challenge over on the American Crafts Blog because it sounded nice and easy. All I  needed to do was decide which of the yummy American Crafts stash to use! In the end I went for two cards and picked out some subtle colours for one and bright fun colours for the other.

Card Top: Card blank America Crafts, Patterned papers, American Crafts Blue Skies and Letterbox : Ribbon and rub on are also American Crafts : Shale Promarker to colour in the flowers and edge :Vintage fabric

Card Bellow: Card blank, American Crafts : Patterned paper, American Crafts I Heart You and Amplified : Kraft cardstock is Bazzill : fabric from my stash : America Crafts I Heart You ribbon : American Crafts Thickers, Lullaby and Darling : American Crafts miniMarks 'Wonderful'.

Reuse, recycle and create

Finally I'm able to get started with the first page in my 2010 album. I had a think about how to get started and looking around found some goodies I'd save from Christmas that 'could' be used for crafting. I'm sure most crafters have these moments where we save things that look like they could have a crafty second life. If you do it's defo a good starting point for a page I think. I picked out some packaging that as well as being pretty has a decorative shape. I'm going to use this shape as a template for my page. Along with the packaging I picked out a photo to use and some card to use as my base.

I've used the packaging to make the page shape, drawing around it across the top and bottom. The page size is dictated by my album so I measure that first and cut a page to fit. I've borrowed th colour scheme from the packaging too which has helped me to pick out the paper. This paper is one from the Collage Press Joyride collection. I've matted my photo on to pink card and inked around the edge of the page with silver ink. I'm not sticking my photo on my page yet I'm going to play around with it first before I stick it down.

After a little bit more decorating my page is finished. I've used some alphabet stickers and made some embellishments with lace. It's now ready for the album. To add it to my album I just punched some holes in the shaped page. A shaped page could also go on top of or inside a page protector.

On the back I've used a label stamp and added some journalling.

Crafting for all group recap: Use something from your craft goodies or around the home as a starting point for your page. Cut your page into a shape other than a square. Have fun!

xx Leo

2010 Scrapbook Stage 2

Today I made a start on the second stage of my 2010 scrapbook. I wanted to make dividers for each month inside my album so it looks more like a journal. If you want to follow along this is what I did next.

I love freestyle scrapbooking so I went along with that style for my dividers, you can taylor how you make yours to your own style. First I used one of the page protectors inside my album as a template. I'm using a very neutral kraft coloured card for my dividers so I can decorate them as I go along in the year. I cut the pieces of card so it was slightly longer than the page protector then freehand sketched out the edges in pencil. I want to make tabs on each page so I sketched that on too.

Next I sketched over the top of the pencil using a Sharpie marker pen. Then used a date stamp to add the date to the tab.

The page was then cut out and the holes marked on using the page protector as a guide.

Because this one is January I want to decorate it right now so I picked out some patterned paper, chipboard stickers and alphabet stickers to use and built up the design. You could just cover over your dividers with patterned paper if you wanted to although it is fun to make a design.

I'm using things I had leftover from Christmas for this first page so you could raid your leftover Christmas stash or cut up Christmas cards etc. Anything with snow would be good for this time of year.

Once that's done the holes are punched in and it's into the album.

If you're making dividers for your 2010 scrapbook you need to make 12, one for each month. Keep them in a similar style and use plain card so if you cover it up completely as you go along decorating your album it won't matter so much.

Keeping my album organised like this I'm hoping it will encourage me to fill some in each month and not be tempted to leave any gaps as the months go on.

I also added this cute tag to the inside. I think it will be nice to tie bits and pieces inside the album as I go along.

So for Crafting for all ers playing along your next mission is to make some dividers. If you didn't want to divide your album up by months you could pick other subjects to organise your book into. Next week we'll be starting the first page inside the book!

Oh, I also added a bit more to my cover because I thought it looked a bit too boring. My plan was to keep it quite plain but I just couldn't get along with it. I think it looks much more interesting now.

xx Leo

2010

Yikes, how scary is it to think we're into 2010. Last year almost just swept by for me so I'm starting this year with a plan. I had lots of fun filling in my December daily album during December although I have to admit I found it difficult to get a page done every day. I also started other projects at the beginning of last year with the intention of carrying them on through the year but didn't make it past March. With all this in mind I've made it a resolution to this year definitely make a scrapbook journal throughout the year and I've made it as easy as I can think of.
One of the main factors I've come across with these year long projects is time so I need to have a schedule to make me produce the pages but one that's not rigidly fixed. The simplest way I could think of is to do one page around the beginning of the month and then one page at the end of the month. Sounds simple so far? I also found getting the album ready and dedicated to one project quite a pull to make it complete so I set about making the album ready. I'm not going to add much to each of the inside pages at this stage because I want to use things I find along the way, (it's also a great excuse to purchase some new goodies as I go through the year!) and make each of the pages completely unique not following any particular style or colour scheme.
I've started with a blank 6x6 American Crafts ring bound album and I picked out some American Crafts papers, chipboard Thickers and Jenni Bowlin stickers to decorate it with.

This is what I ended up with.

The next job is to make dividing pages for each month and since I'll need two pages for each month I need to make sure there are 24 sides or pages inside my book. After that it's down to filling up the first page!

Happy new year!

xx Leo

P.S For any Crafting for All group playing along I think Pat is going to be keeping a link in the important info bit in the group. I'll update when I've made up the inside bits but for now it's about getting a blank album you want to use ready. xx