"Paper Dolls"

Do you remember playing with 'paper dolls' as a child?  It was so much fun and brought back fond memories of playing with my collection of 'paper dolls' in my childhood.  They kept me entertained for many hours, dressing them in all the outfits that were included, and making up scenarios and stories about each of them.  Ah .......... memories !!!

Well, I finally got to play with my new Prima "Doll" stamps this week. They have been sitting on the table patiently waiting, never complaining while other things have gone on around them.

These are the three gorgeous girls I'm referring to, aren't they just so sweet!  Unfortunately I'm not sure if they have actual names or not, so I'll have to do a bit of research to identify them.

The first 'doll' is wearing an outfit from Kaisercraft 'Sweet Pea'  6 1/2" x 6 1/2" pad and to add just an extra touch, there are four tiny pearl buttons on her blouse.  The flowers come as a bunch and as they were white,  I coloured them with Distress Marker 'Spun Sugar'.

The second 'doll' is wearing a lovely flowing dress from Graphic 45  'Christmas Emporium',

The last 'doll'  is wearing a dress from Graphic 45 'A Ladies Diary' with just a touch of velvet lace at the waistband.  She is wearing a pearl necklace and matching earrings.

Each 'doll' has been stamped onto ivory cardstock with her arms, legs and head coloured with Distress Marker 'Antique Linen' and hair in different brown tones, before being fussy cut.  The background paper is from Graphic 45 'Secret Garden' and is matted onto Stampin' Up 'Soft Suede' cardstock. All the leaves and flowers are Dylusions and are coloured using Distress Markers before being fussy cut and popped onto dimensions. The ribbons are from my stash.   Each of the 'dolls' have also been popped up on dimensions.

Gosh, I didn't realise how many different brands have been used in the making of these tags - but they all go together so I guess it doesn't really matter does it?

I would love to hear your thoughts, so please feel free to leave a comment.

I have entered 'doll #1' in this weeks Stampotique challenge.

Happy crafting!

Vintage Voyage

Hey there, I'm back in the land of Blog - woohoo!  My apologies for not blogging lately but life just gets in the way sometimes.  First it was my sojourn at Kaisercraft in Geelong (and no, I still haven't finished those projects yet, eeeek), then the following week #1 son went on a 3 day hike with Boys Brigade, walking the Six Foot Track, which starts at Katoomba and finishes at Jenolan Caves.  "Mum, do you think you could pick some of us up?" he asked a few weeks earlier.  "OK" says me, but it's a bit of a lonely road out to the caves, so I asked my BFF along for the trip.  So we had a leisurely drive to the mountains on the Tuesday, enjoyed a yummy lunch at Leura, stayed at Katoomba overnight, peered through thick fog the next morning (view? I'm sure there should be a view here somewhere!) before heading off to Jenolan Caves.  Oh, and "change of plans, Mum, we're now finishing at the camp site BEFORE  the caves".  We (BFF & me) could only hope we were waiting at about the right place - no signs, no phone reception, no hikers?  But all was well in the end with the parents of one of the other hikers figuring out where they were, phew!

Weary, stiff, all in one piece & still smiling!

Anyhow, I have actually been doing a few bits 'n' pieces, so thought I'd show a card I made using the new Graphic 45 "Steampunk Spells" collection.  This is not my design but one I saw recently on the G45 blog and really liked, a card on a card.

It's rather hard to see in the photo, but I've fussy cut a second layer of flowers, her hat, necklace and the raven (or is it a crow?), as well as a third layer for the flower centres, and popped them up on dimensionals ('Vintage Voyage').   The hinges are from a pack of 'push outs' (sorry, don't know what else to call them).

This is inside the 'front' card, again with extra flowers fussy cut and popped up, as well as the flying clock.

For the inside of the main card, the inserts are cut from 'Witching Hour', the torn panel from 'Frightful Folly', another couple of fussy cut flowers ('Fanciful Floral') and the tag envelope is again a 'push out' which is then folded.  Attached to the ribbon is a 'black cat' tag.   On the right side, the bottle is stamped using Distress Markers rather than an ink pad, to get the blue and black.  The wings were leftovers from the lady.  The other envelope is also a 'push out' with a tag which slides out (hence the ribbon pull).

I really liked the way this card went together, hmmm ....... may make another one!

So, there you have it, I'm up-to-date again.   Hopefully I'll be back again sooner rather than later !!!

Happy crafting!

 

Molly's Garden

Last Thursday, I went along to the Dylusions Play Day at Alice in Paperland.  This is such a fun morning with everyone doing their own thing, so to speak, and to add to the creativeness,  five very creative young girls joined in (school holidays last week and this week).  I tell you, kids don't have any concerns about what should go with what, they just go with the flow and their creativeness could teach me a thing or two!

I chose a double page that I had used some dimensional paste through a stencil last time I played, so it was now well and truly dry.  I started by spraying a bit of yellow, orange and brown through a stencil (cell theory), not colours I usually use together, but with a few 'puddles' of black added, it was looking good.

Next a border was added with the dots coloured with red Dylusions, followed by a honeycomb stamp rolled here and there, and I added little dots of colour in some of the hexagonals.

The bats, cobweb and bushes (Dylusions - sorry, don't know the name) were stamped in jet black Archival, as was "Molly" (Stampotique) who was stamped onto some book paper and left uncoloured (so was his/her party hat).  It's a funny thing but I really can't decide whether Molly is a boy or girl monster - rather cute though in a sad sort of way!

At this point we had run out of time and were packing up, so the remainder of the pages were finished at home.  The spider (G45 Happy Hauntings) was added to the web, extra leaves and plants (SU) were added to the bushes and Molly was fussy cut and glued into place in the garden.  Molly's Garden is left over rubon letters from ages ago.  I think an interesting little verse or anecdote should be added to the left page, but until I find the right one, it will remain as you see it.  If you look hard on the left page, there are three owls sitting on a branch too (G45 Happy Hauntings) !

 I hope you've enjoyed a stroll around "Molly's Garden".  Do let me know what you think !

Happy crafting!

Coming Off a High !!

Coming off a high !!  You know what I mean - you've been doing something exciting and it comes to an end and unfortunately reality returns fairly quickly.  Well, that was me (and two friends) this week.

As you are probably aware, I work at Alice in Paperland, and Alice (yes she does indeed exist) offered three of us girls the opportunity to attend a Retailers Day at Kaisercraft in Geelong, Victoria.  It was actually two days of being privvy to the upcoming collections that will be arriving in stores over the next few months, five classes consisting of scrapbook pages, off the page and cards, hands-on trying out of new products, shopping in the huge warehouse, and the most delicious morning & afternoon teas, as well as lunch, a roast the first day and BBQ the second day- mmmm yum!

We (Jenni, Jackie and myself) headed off on Sunday morning for the airport, arriving in Geelong around 2.30pm where we picked up our hire car, a very nice new Corolla.  We then set off for Torquay where we were staying in a two bedroom apartment - very swish - at the Wyndham Resort across the road from the beach. 

We had a fabulous time away, great company (thanks Jenni & Jackie), and all the staff at Kaisercraft were just so welcoming and friendly, but all good things must come to an end, and so we headed back to Avalon airport and arrived back in Sydney around 10.15pm (it was a late flight and takes around 1hr 10mins).

I wish I could show you now (but I can't) so as and when the new collections are released, I'll post the photos of some of the gorgeous creations that we ooh'd & ah'd over, and made in our classes.

Happy crafting!

Family Heirloom Book (Part 2)

Well, here I am back again with the next installment of the photos of my book, so if you're ready, off we go ......

Page 5

Pocket Pull-Outs

Page 6

Christmas

Three Mini Albums

Page 7

with three pull-out tags

Page 8

Undo the bow to reveal a mini album

So as you can see there are lots of places to add photos.  With the 'Christmas' page the tutorial only gives instructions for two mini albums, but since there are three children in my family, I added an extra one so that each of my boys gets one, instead of having to have two children in one mini (if that makes sense?).

I suppose you're wondering what the front of the book looks like ....

 

.... the spine has multiple ribbons around it (mostly decorative) and the covers are adhered to the front of the first page and back of the last page ....

 

 

 

.... and is quite bulky, and this is without any photos!

After the amount of work that went into this book, it is definately having photos added.

Happy crafting!

Family Heirloom Book (Part 1)

Wooohooo!!!  I have finally finished my Jane Tregenza book after starting it last August - PHEW!!!  Now to search through and add my photos and call it my "Family Heirloom Book".   This book was made following the tutorial over 9 months and can be found on the Graphic 45 site (left column, click on Jane's Book Tutorials).

Each double page has pockets and sleeves and mini albums on which to add photos and/or journaling.  So as to not bore you with oodles of photos I'm going to show you the book over a couple of posts.

 Page 1

A page about "Me"

 Inside Mini Album

Page 2

A page about "The Man in your Life"

 Pocket Pull-Outs

 Page 3

 A page about "Little Darlings"

 Pocket Tags

Page 4

A page about "School Days"

Bookmarks tucked behind the 'classroom'

Tomorrow I'll be back with the second part of the book which has 8 pages in total and goes through the different stages that we as families, go through.

Thanks for looking,

Happy crafting!

Doctor Who & Supanova

Supanova is on again at Homebush this weekend.  Two members of my family are there on their respective stands, DH on Doctor Who and DS#2 on Hobbyco.  I recently became the owner of some Doctor Who stamps (thanks to Kat) so I made a few cards to add to the merchandise for sale.

All the images were stamped onto watercolour paper before colouring using SU watercolour pencils which blend beautifully.  They were then fussy cut and popped onto dimensionals. 

The TARDIS was easy - straight lines.

Fish fingers & custard - colourwise, easy until I asked DH what colour the bowl was. His answer "clear".  "Oh wonderful" thinks I, "how am I supposed to do that?"  So I stamped the image onto acetate, cut around the bowl and positioned it over the top of the yellow custard - not too bad!  The green check underneath is a piece of washi tape to represent the tablecloth.

Statue of Liberty - verdigris,  hmmm, two greens blended together.

Weeping Angels - this was the hardest (and I made it colour, which was wrong).  So, I restamped it leaving the angel uncoloured, but added  colour to the plinth she's leaning on.  And so I didn't have to start over, I glued the uncoloured angel directly over the coloured one.

Around half the cards sold yesterday, the favourite being the TARDIS, so I quickly made a few more last night to top them up.

It's another cold, wet, miserable day again but this afternoon I'm off to a SU New Catalogue Launch party.  Unfortunately I can't stay long, but hopefully long enough to catch up with a few people.

Happy crafting!