The Sherlock Book by Watson for Meg's Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  So pleased you came for a visit.
I am here to show you what I have created with Kerry-Jean Watson's awesome Sherlock Book Kit.  This fabulous Kit is available from Meg's Garden as either a fully printed version or a digital download that you can print for yourself.  HERE is the link to see the video of the Book Kit.

I am basically a card maker and I was in need of a Crafting Diary to keep track of Birthdays and Anniversaries, etc. and also Design Team Deadlines, and so that is what I decided to make with my Kit.  Yes, I do have all that information on my computer, but there is nothing like having it all on hand in a pretty book is there??

For the front cover I did some stamping and stenciling and splashed a little paint around as well before adding the embellies.  Most of the embellishments you can see came from Meg's Garden.  You can purchase some fantastic 'bundles' that contain beads, ribbons, metal embellies ... everything you could possibly need to beautifully embellish your Kit, and they come in an assortment of colours too!!
The film strip frame came from my stash and the photos inside it are actually photos of some of my past projects for Meg's Garden. The quote was found on the net.  I wanted to incorporate some craft quotes into this book so you will see the odd one or two scattered around on different pages.  

The tabs you can see peeking out from the side of the book are part of the Kit.  I simply wrote the months on by hand and then glued them to the edge of the journal pages.

The book measures 5.75" x 7.75" and all the pages were distressed and inked with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink and then glued to sheets of Kraft Cardstock.  Punched some holes with my Crop-adile and bound it together with seam binding.  The binding  was also coloured with Distress Ink in Gathered Twigs and Walnut Stain.  

Here's a closie of the charms ...

... and another of the quote and the flower cluster.

I wanted this book to be more than just a Diary.  I also want to use it as an ideas journal so I made a couple of small booklets and some tags in order to record things like interesting sketches, color palettes and great techniques.
Making the booklet was very simple.   I just cut some kraft cardstock and some  plain sheets of paper to the size I wanted, folded them in half and then simply punched two holes in the crease and pulled some twine through and tied it with a bow.   I then covered the front of each booklet with some of the paper and used a fancy paper clip to keep them closed.

Following are some shots of the embellished pages or you can just go straight down  to the end of this post for a walk through video which was made by Kerry-Jean Watson the creator of this awesome Kit.  I don't make videos as I don't have the equipment and I am so pleased that Kerry-Jean offered to do one for me.  Thank you KJ ... you rock!!  

... and this is the back of the book.  The gorgeous stains you can see are actually on the paper itself.  The only changes I made here was to distress and ink the edges ... Looooovee  those stains!!

Here is the walk-through video!!

I do hope you like my little Diary and that I have inspired you to get one for yourself!!  Why not pop over to the Meg's Garden Blog and see what my Teamies created with this awesome Kit.  You will be amazed by the variety!!
HERE is the link to the blog and HERE is the link to the Shop!

Meg's Garden Products used:
The Sherlock Book Kit
Camel Bundle
Sage Burlap Ribbon
Seam Binding

Thank you so much for visiting and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!
Take care and God Bless.

Flowers - Just for Me!

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a fabulous day!!

I have another card to share.  Haven't really been in "the crafting zone' lately and was getting a bit down about it but things have picked up again and I decided to make something 'just for me'.  Didn't care if it was good or bad, just wanted to get my fingers dirty so to speak.   I had started another Art Journal page but got stuck and it's still waiting for me to finish it so, in the meantime, I made this card.

The papers I used are from Meg's Garden's 'Gentlemen's Collection' and, though they are certainly wonderful for masculine projects, they also work just as well for feminine ones.

Did a little bit of stamping  with a text stamp and black archival ink and also added a bit of texture through a stencil.  I actually wanted to drizzle some paint over the papers, but had a lot of trouble getting it right so used the stencil instead.  Also sprinkled the background with watered down Black Soot D.I.

The wooden flourish is from Kaisercraft.  Coloured it with Distress Inks and lightly swiped it with gesso.

The large flowers are from Kaisercraft, the small roses from Meg's Garden and the rest are from my stash.  The metal leaves were lightly swiped with gesso.

The ticket was fussy cut from Prima's Engraver Collection, edged with Distress Ink and, again, swiped with gesso.  Love that gesso!!!

The inside was decorated with some strips of the same papers and stenciled with Tea Stain D.I.

I may have to make a few more of these 'random' cards just to perk up the old 'mojo'.  It didn't take a lot of time to do and I just went with the flow and did whatever I felt like.  Must say, I thoroughly enjoyed the process.  Sometimes you've just got to please yourself!!

Thank you so much for visiting and I do hope you like my little floral make.  I'll probably give it away to someone but, for the moment, it's there to remind me why I love crafting so much.

Take care, lovely people and enjoy the rest of your day.
God Bless.

July Reveal for Meg's Garden #2

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog!!  Well, we're back to the rain again in Adelaide, the sunshine only lasted for one day!!  It was so lovely but back to the dull and dreary again!!  (sigh)

I'm back today to share the second part of my Meg's Garden Design Team reveal for July.  This time I have an AT Block to share with you.

I make my AT Blocks from scratch and I really love making them!  They could be used for so many different things, I thought this one could be used as a Wedding or Party Favor.  You could fill it with almonds or a piece of jewelry or anything else you may prefer.
Still using the 'Correspondence' papers I cut them to size and stenciled the side pieces with gesso before glueing them down and then adding small pearls to the center of the flowers.  I edged the papers with gesso as well.  Once all the sides were glued down I added the gorgeous Mini Rose Braid around the bottom.

The Dodo Vine Wire on the top of the box was randomly covered with glitter, although the photos don't show it all that well.  The Ivory Primula is another flower I absolutely love and I just added a small die cut to complete the cluster.  The heart was cut with a Fiskars Shape cutter and I simply glued the paper to it and wrote the Thank you by hand.  (I know, my hand writing is awful, but just pretend it looks pretty and that I didn't forget to rub out the pencil lines!  LOL)

I also lined the inside of the box with a different sheet of the papers and edged those with gesso as well ...

... and here is the box filled with lollies.  This little box only measures 2.75" x 2.75" but you would be amazed at how much will fit inside.

Hoping you like my little ATB and that, perhaps, I have inspired you today!

Meg's Garden Products used:
'Correspondence' Mini Paper Pack
Ivory Primula
Mini Rose Braid
Dodo Vine Wire
You can check out all the yummy goodies Meg stocks in her shop HERE,
and to take a look at the gorgeous creations made by my Teamies, you can visit Meg's Garden Blog HERE.

Thank you so much for coming by and I do hope you enjoy the rest of your day!!
Take care and God Bless.

Meg's Garden - June Sponsor for CSI

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

June is a very special month for all of us in the Meg's Garden Design Team.  

Meg's Garden is sponsoring the CSI Color Challenge and some of our DT girls will be Guest Designers as well!!!

Unfortunately (or not) I do not Scrapbook so I won't be joining in on the Challenge but I have created a card using the COLOURS and some of the EVIDENCE.
Here is the Case File ...

... and here is my card.

The papers are from Meg's Garden's new Correspondence Collection and all the COLOURS are there. 

The PALE BLUE is the base paper which came from my stash but, as I had no teal or orange items, I had to mix some acrylic paints so I could colour my flowers.  I used blue and green for the TEAL and brushed it straight on the papers as well as colouring the small rose with it.  For the top layer it was watered down  to get the paler look.  Added a little texture with TCW's Mini Tile Stencil and some home made texture paste and applied small strips of adhesive pearls to create the CHEVRONS.

I mixed Vermilion and Yellow for the ORANGE to colour the large gardenia and made it fairly watery so it could be brushed straight onto the FLOWER.  Although I still have a lot of coloured flowers in my stash I find now that buying plain white ones and colouring them to suit my project is a much better option.  Meg's Garden has a great range of gorgeous flowers that can easily be coloured this way.  I did have some small YELLOW flowers so had no need to colour those.

Attached a little bit of gauze underneath the flower cluster and added some die cut LEAVES.

The Testimony is simply the die cut greeting which came from my stash.  I also added some pearl gem sprays at the bottom to create a balance for the chevrons.

Just a closie.

Simply added some border punched strips of the Correspondence Papers to decorate the inside ...

... and another view of the completed card.

Meg's Garden Products used -
Correspondence Mini Paper Pack - S133
Gardenia - gar wh
Small paper roses - 005wh

I do hope you will join us for this amazing Challenge, there are some fantastic Meg's Garden products to be won.
For all the details and to see the awesome projects from my Team mates HERE is the link to CSI and HERE is the link to Meg's Garden.


Thank you so much for visiting and for any comments you may care to leave.
Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God bless.
oxox Marg

A Little on the Shabby Side #2

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog, so pleased to have you here.

Well, I am back again to show the second of my little Shabby Cards.  Don't think I mentioned this in my last post, but this is my favourite of the two.  Once again I've used Pion's Flower Frame Papers and of course I've just ripped and torn and curled them as I did on my previous card.

As you can see the composition is quite different from the previous card but it is still only a fairly basic card and yet the tearing and curling of the papers make it look just that little bit more special.  

A mix of flowers with some added stamens and a gem spray.  The small blue rose was originally white, but I felt the cluster needed a little extra splash of colour so I used some Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink mixed with water and painted it blue.  I also added a little of the colour to the grey flower as well just to give it some extra shading.

Here is a better view of the blue rose.  The colour turned out a little uneven but I think that also adds to the interest.  The two flower clusters are basically the same.  

As in the first card, this one was also simply lined with strips of the same papers.

The mesh underneath the layers was actually a flower meant to be made into a Fascinator.  I'm not sure what it is made of but it feels a bit like straw although it is quite flexible.  I simply pulled it apart and ended up with lots of bits of mesh to use for texture.  The belly band is made up of paper with some gauze stretched over the top and then tied up with some twine.

I am really happy with the way these two cards turned out but this one is definitely my favourite!!  Hope you like it too!!

Thank you once again for visiting  and I would love it if you could leave a little note to let me know what you think of my shabby little cards.  I treasure each and every comment made and really appreciate you taking the time.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day.  Please take care and God Bless

oxox Marg

A little Bit on the Shabby Side #1

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog, I hope you are having a wonderful day.

I'd like to share another card with you today.  I've been experimenting a bit with the way I construct my cards.  I've always loved distressing the edges of the papers I use on my cards.  I really love that look.  Rather than just leaving them flat and straight I like to mess them up a little, and, lately, I've been doing that more and more.  Well, with this card I took it a bit further.  Usually I cut my papers to size and then use a distressing tool, but this time I simply tore all the papers to the size I needed and then curled random parts of the edges quite drastically.  

This is the result ...

 ... and I love it!!  This card is fairly basic but with the added interest of the torn and curled papers I think it looks quite a bit more elaborate.  I've been seeing this technique more and more on different Blogs I've  visited and really, really love how it looks.

The papers used are from Pion's Flower Frames Collection.

 Here is a closie of the netting and the stamens inserted between the layers and you can also see I've punched the edges of the green papers in random places.  

 Did a little stitching, and the flourish is a die cut from Marianne Creatables .  I think it is from the Frame and Swirls Set but am not sure as I didn't make note of it.  The deep green flower and the netting came in the Temptations in Green pack from Meg's Garden.com, and the light green flower is from Kaisercraft.   The vintage brad in the centre of the flower also came from Meg's Garden.

 The inside was simply lined with more paper from the same Collection.

A couple of different views ...

... and I do hope you like my little Shabby card.  

I had fun with this process and I will be making more and more of my cards this way.  I did actually make two cards today and I will be showing the 2nd one in the next couple of days.  I hope you'll come back to check it out.

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg