DESIGN TEAM - Brag book

So new year... New project! 

This time for my design team project the wonderful people at Jones Crafts have sent me the wonderfully bright Believe collection from Bo Bunny to work with! And oh boy is it a bright one! 

This time round I thought we should tackle the fun project of a mini brag book! The handbag sized scrapbooking delight! 

I've used many pages from the Bo bunny collection cutting them in to 5.5" squares and backing them on to 400gsm card, just using a standard hole punch to create the holes for the binding rings to link them together... 

Now you can see all of the collection we will treat this bit as a where's wally style search... See if you can see which sheets I used on which pages ;) 

Not only was I spoilt with the wonderful pages supplied by Jones crafts I've also been sent the wonderful brads, embellishments & chipboard elements! 

As you can see I've dotted all of this stash throughout my album to add detail! 

My favourite page from this collection is Believe Devine! It's perfect for cutting up in to bits to add throughout the album... Especially the tabs!!! 

Santa's Magic Key

So for today's design team project I'm once again working with the wonderful Bo Bunny Sleigh Ride collection... 

So let's get one with the instructions...

First of all, I got myself one of these stunning Kaisercraft wooden keys, only £2.29 @ Craftmania! 

And used it to draw around on the reverse of my Bo Bunny Sleigh Ride sheet - 

Once drawn around, I simply cut 2 out (1 for each side) 

And then glued them on... 

Now the width of the key... I didn't want to paint the base of the key, and felt the wooden essence of the key would be a shame to cover completely, but didn't want as much as if I just left it.. So ribbon was the answer, a quick and easy way to get in to all the nooks and crannys of the key without hours of faffing, so I just wrapped double sided tape around the key, and then placed ribbon on top... 

Now at this stage I decided the edges of my paper looked a little too freshly cut, and the white was bugging me, so decided to do what I should have done before sticking them on... Distress the edges! 

Chipped sapphire seemed the best idea! 

Now the base of the project was complete it seemed time to add on some of our FANTATSIC dies we get from Craftmania -(thanks to Jones Crafts!) 

The dies are all currently available from Crafttmania 

Large pointsettia - £23.49

Small pointsettia - £10.99

Trio of tags - £23.49

Snowflakes - £20.99

Heart swirl -£17.49

I cut all of this sheet from Kraft card and then again from sleigh ride - Tranquil 

Then layered them as I felt best, adding glitter glue to the poinsettias and swirls, now the swirls are a neat trick... I love this die as it is... But with a few snips it makes a great value swirl die! 

 

Then all I did was glue gun on all of my die cuts and write on my Christmas tag, I also glued a piece of white card to the back of the "Merry" on my tag so it hopefully 'pops' a little more and added a couple of pearls... Job done! A nice easy Christmas decoration you could bring out year after year! 

All of the products used today are currently available at Craftmania - Great Yarmouth Norfolk Or lowestoft Suffolk, to order please call 01502 218281 

All of the products used today (with the exception of the distress inks) are available to the trade Via Jones Crafts. 

Design team project - Fab Scraps!

This month for my jones design team I've got to work with one of the fantatsic new collections from Fab Scrabs! It's a refreshing collection, with a lovely quality feel to it... One of subtle colours and soft lines...

Little bit of a confession here... For some odd reason I do have a little bit of a thing for lighthouses and hot air balloons, so you may notice these appear a little too frequently in my work lol... My class have even picked up on this now.. With the next couple of pages featuring hot air balloons for their lessons they think I'm working in cahoots with the local hot air ballon tours ;) 

Anyways back to today's project... So starting off with my backing sheet of coral and sea themed 

goodies I've distressed around the edge, usually I would use a Tim Holts distress ink but this time I was feeling a little rebellious so opted for a Memento Potters clay pad, although not one to boast it's distressing qualities I find these work just as well as Tim's 

Once I had my base sheet tackled it was time to pick my layering sheet.. Of course it just had to be the lighthouse backing paper, but to fit in with this page I wanted textured edges instead of fresh cut lines, so I used a ruler and ripped along the side if it... No measuring needed... Just rough ripping... I've rebuilt my page to give you a little idea of proportions - 

Now time to distress the edges if these too... Given the nice layered edges I found these really 

distressed well... I am in truth rather a fan of ripped edges... Just seems to fit in so much better with shabby effect I aim for :) 

Or so next up... It's time to lay on my jigsaw puzzle of pieces and work out what's needed next... 

I decided I needed a colour to break up the two heavy background sheets so opted for a light brown linen  card.

I love linnen card as you can highlight the texture so easily by just taking an ink pad and rubbing it right over the top if it, so that's what I did... Once again with Memento Potters clay - cheeky little before and after - 

(This is actually the backing to my photo... That I did the same technique with)

So now I've got my photo backing and layers sort of organised I wanted to find the WOW factor for this page... Now very recently a very lovely friend of the store - Debbie Fisher came to do a Crafters Companion demo day for us and introduced me to Frantage embossing powders and to be honest... 

I'm hooked! So anything I can cover I will... It's an addiction! And with so many colours to choose from I of course had one for this project too ;) 

Now luckily in my design team pack this month I've been very spoilt! 

I've received several of the Fab Scraps chipboard shapes - now these are a true scrapbooking essential!

Acid & lignin free, lightweight, amazing value! 

And the uses are endless as well as the options to colour them! 

To give you a little idea.. Here is a couple of my favourites - 

So now it's time to get my anchor and helm coloured and ready to fit the page, now a wide eyed crafter has possibly already spotted the wonderful frame these shapes come attached to will make a perfect photo surround! (Little cheeky bonus!) 

All we need to do to "Frantage" these pieces is dab over the top of them with a clear emboss pad and the tip on the powder... 

Tap off the excess and heat with a heat gun 

For my frame I've used shabby white and for the small frame, anchor & helm I've used aged gold... 

These powders are only £5.99 and are so thick and wonderful & easy to use.. And it gets even better... They are available in a wide selection if colours too! (In store now @ Craftmania) 

Now you may be wondering how I've only used one set of these fantatsic chipboard shapes but yet have two of the bonus frames... Well for my next page I'm going to be using the hot air ballon chipboard! So I've borrowed the frame from this one in advance ;) 

Time for the finishing touches! 

I've just added a little cord to my anchor and layered a stamped sentiment 

(kasiercraft stamp set - antique bazaar) 

And a few sprinkles of our fantatsic hanged white frantage powder across the base if the page, and the heated it, hopefully creating a sandy beachy effect! 

Now that's this project done! 

If you would like to come and have a go at this page in one of Craftmania's lessons this page will be 

featuring as a project in our scrapbooking classes in the lowestoft (Suffolk) store on Saturday 1st November 2:00-4:30 and Wednesday 4th November 10:00-12:30 

For more details check out the Craftmania facebook events page -

Www.facebook.com/craftmaniacrafts/events 

As always a massive thank you to Jones crafts for sending me such wonderful products to play with! 

If your interested in stocking any of the products used today please get in contact with jones crafts 

(Frantage embossing powder is not a Jones Crafts product)

All of today's products and pages are available in Craftmnaia Great Yarmouth (Norfolk) & lowestoft (Suffolk) stores - to have any of the products posted to you, please call 01502 218281 :) 

Little One Scrapbook Page - Iris Folding

 

So for today's design team project I've got to work with the little one collection!

And I must admit kids pages are not one that I have much experience with doing... So with trepidation I set sail in to this challenge hoping for a good result... (We've all been there haven't we lol) 

So for today's collection I had this wonderful selection -

Firstly I decided I would tackle one of my favourite Cardmaking techniques - iris folding... I love this effect but had yet to use it in scrapbooking (one of those ureeka moments you're not sure why you hadn't had it years ago!) so off I set... Google in hand to find a free air balloon pattern -  hey presto...

Being  terrible with technology I did the only thing I know how, and uploaded it in publisher and enlarged it before printing it :) 

If you've never done iris folding this picture probably is making you scratch your head about now.. Trying to make this easy.. You cut strips of paper, fold them in half lengh ways and work around the pattern, starting from number one working upwards.. Until you've completed the shape.. Now for the fun part I haven't mentioned.. Firstly you need to cut this balloon out (just the balloon) and use it as a stencil on the piece of paper you wish to have the balloon on.. In my case a piece of the grey & white cloud paper (Jack). once drawn around, cut out the shape to create an appature. then place this paper face down over the pattern and secure with a little piece of masking tape, so you can now see the picture above through the hole in your paper... Now take the strips you've cut and folded in half and work around the numbers sticking the paper at the top and the bottom with cello tape. 

I didn't find the attached pattern order for the colour strips gave the effect I was after . so I completely

 freestyled the papers I used in my preferred order.

My papers for this design were cut to 3cm wide - depending on how big or small you print the balloon off will determine how wide the strips you'll need :) 

For my folded papers I used - pink hearts (Zoe) - blue words (Noah) and the back of this paper for the grey and white blocks.

I've then used the remainder of the pink heart sheet and the blue words sheet and layered them on green card, for the balloon iris folding I've mounted this with foam tape on to the other side of the great cloud paper (Jack) 

I've also used a little off cut of the Jack paper for my basket, and the tabs coming out from under my knot, the photo is just layered on matching card, which I've also used for my stamped sentiment and journalling (then matted in the matching green card) 

To finish off this page I have added the worlds smallest handmade bows (ok maybe not.. But they felt like it when I was trying to make them! Lol) to the joins of my cord to the ballon and used the same design ribbon for a large bow on the top of the balloon. 

The only piece I've forgot to mention is the strip of hot air balloons, this is the base strip off of the Jack page! 

For a little added sparkle (and to hide my wonky cutting line!) 

I've gone around the balloon, basket and tabs with iridescent glitter glue

I hope this all makes sense, any questions, please don't hesitate to ask away in the comments :) 

If you would like to come and do this as a lesson, we will be doing these 2 pages 

At Craftmania lowestoft on 

Saturday 19th September 2:00-4:30 &

Wednesday 23rd September 10:00-12:30

This lesson costs £8 and everything you need to make both pages is supplied for you, all you need to bring is yourself and some pictures :) 

To book please give us a call on - 01502 218281 - (mon-sat 9-5)

Alternatively all of these papers will be available from Craftmania, or if you wish to stock these products in your store, please get in contact with Jones Crafts - wholesaler of many fantastic brands including Kaisercraft, Bobunny, Marion smith, pioneer, candy box crafts, impression obsession and just announced - fabscraps!