Shh, don't tell anyone I'm here...

I told Paul I was just checking my emails, but was overcome by the urge to blog! I have two last projects from before Christmas, and the other project requires a slide-show, so here is my notebook swap piece. This was a bit of a long-winded swap for various reasons, but worth waiting for when I saw all of the entries. Everyone started with two pieces of semi-opaque polypropylene, 3" x 5", and altered them however they wanted. Mine uses Paint Dabbers and Glimmer mist, and has images stamped on the front and back of each cover- the dark blue colour is showing through from the back.

Colour: Paint Dabbers, Glimmer Mist, Distress Ink, Stickles
Stamp: Elusive Images
Other: Embelliscrap butterfly, metal tape and cuttlebug folder, charm, ribbon selvedge, Bind-it-all

When I put the colour down, I started by spraying with Glimmer Mist, then painted over it with a Paint Dabber. Note to anyone else that tries this: seal it with spray varnish between the two mediums- the Glimmer Mist is not a stable surface and the paint flakes off! It took me three coats of paint before I thought to do this :D

If you want to see the rest of the notebooks, check out the UK Stampers Cyberblog

Scrap page

I'm stealing a couple of minutes to blog this page, as it has been finished for over a week, but I haven't managed to find the time to take the photo. I am really pleased with this, as I feel I have finally 'got' the idea of layering patterned papers. I was amazed to find, after I had stuck everything down, that the photo is exactly 2.5" in from each side, so I think that means that the balance of the layers is good. I did stamp on the page, the swirl on the upper right corner of the photo/ stripy paper is a tree design from Katzelcraft. It is a pretty versatile stamp as it really doesn't look at all like a tree here! The photograph of the page isn't brilliant, I'm afraid, as the light is awful and I had to use the flash. The next sunny day we get, I will re-take the photo and change it.

Patterned Paper: Basic Grey
Cardstock: The Paper Mill shop
Embellishments: Wooden letters from a pound shop, Embelliscrap swirl, brads from my stash
Stamp: Katzelcraft
Colour: Brilliance Coffee Bean

P.S. I need to say thanks to a couple of people for this page. Petra sent me some Technique Tuesday scallops to use as templates, which is how I did the scalloped layer, and Vicky gave me the wooden letters, as the ones I had were too big. Vicky also told me when the page was finished; she knows that I would just keep adding things forever otherwise! Oh, and I took a class with Isa recently where we did layering, I think I it worked and I learned something, so thanks to Isa, too!

Happy Birthday, Jill!

This card is quite exciting for me, as it is the first card for ages that I have made which didn't involve colouring in and cutting out. It was like eating pie and mash after a month of gourmet meals; a total comfort! I do love all of the complicated things, but actually, I also love the simple style, too. And this was simple to make, even though there are lots of elements. This is the first card I have blogged which uses Stampin' Up stamps: this set is 'Carte Postale', and I need to say thank you to Lorna and Cliff, my Parents-in-Law (who live in France) as I bought these stamps with the money they sent for my birthday.

Stamps: 'Carte Postal' from SU (background, sentiment, tile), Hero Arts (script stamp used on flower etc)
Colour: Versafine in Vintage Sepia
Paper: Plain card embossed with Cuttlebug folder
Embellishments: Embelliscrap swirls and heart, Prima flower, Making Memories brass label holder, ribbon from my stash
Other: Ranger Crackle accents used on tile and sentiment. I highlighted the cracks using Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. Effective, eh?

I completed my scrap page last night, and I think it's one of the best I have done for ages. I always acheive a lot when I go to Vicky's to scrap, and she always does when she comes to me. I think that if you are leaving your craft room to go elsewhere, you put more thought into a project and therefore have done more of the hard work of planning before you start. So we are going to try to alternate who goes to whom, and then I'll at least have a decent finished page every other time I scrap! I'll show you last night's page later...