Centre Step 'Grunge'

Hello everyone!!  Welcome to my little bit of blogging space.

A very warm welcome to my new followers too!!  So pleased to have you join me ladies and I hope you can get a little inspiration here.

OK, down to business.  I have a lot of masculine cards to make and I thought I'd better get started on them so I've come up with a fairly 'grungy' centre step card. 

The look I was going for was reminiscent of the rusted old worn out Garage they would show in the old movies.  You know, the dirty, grotty, untidy, messed up places out in the middle of nowhere, with all the old wrecks and junk sitting around the yard but where the mechanic is an absolute genius for fixing cars.   I think I kinda got the look I was going for.

 The papers used are from Kaisercraft's 'Garage Days' along with a few strips from their 'Base Coat' range as well.

The border strip is part of a note pad cutting file from Silhouette.  Grunged it up a bit with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and Versa Color silver.  The small label images were fussy cut from one of the Garage Days 6 x 6 papers.

 The cogs are also a cutting file from Silhouette and I coloured them the same as the border strip but with a little Versa Color Lapislazuli and some Kaisercraft Red Gum added in.

 The large 'Gas' label was mounted on some paper board to give it some height.

 For the inside I simply cut a border strip with Martha Stewart's 'Optic Dot" Border Punch and fussy cut a few more images from the paper.

 A few closies showing the layers ...

 ... lots and lots of layers.

I really like step cards.  I've made a couple lately but I think I might be making a whole lot more, they are very versatile and something just a little different from the norm.

I hope you like my Grungy Centre Step Card and are, perhaps, a little inspired to make your own.

Thank you so much for visiting, I'm really pleased you came.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Me?? Scrapbooking???

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.

Well, this is a post I never thought I would be writing ... I actually did some scrapbooking today!!  What!!!  You say??  Scrapbooking  ... You????  Yep!! Me!!

We had our 11 yr old Granddaughter Melanie here for a sleep-over last night.  Because of the heat ( it was over 40 degrees here in Adelaide for the fourth day in a row) we decided to stay home today and create a scrapbook page of their dog "Sully" (Short for Sullivan).
It was the greatest fun.  I absolutely loved it and I think she did too.
So, here is our page!!

 The photo was taken not long after they brought the dog home which was about 6 months ago.  He's a lot bigger now, and I mean a LOT bigger!!  Anyway I showed my DGD (Darling Granddaughter) some layouts on my Pinterest Board and she chose a design made by Di Garling.  Di creates the most amazing pages.  This one is from a couple of weeks ago and, If you would like to take a look, HERE is the link to her blog.  Mel absolutely loved the tears in the paper and that is why she chose this particular page.

So the papers were chosen from the limited stock of 12 x 12's I have in my stash (I have no idea where they are from) and we used black cardstock as our base.  Melanie actually did the ripping of the paper and I really think she thoroughly enjoyed that too. So then we did some spraying with diluted 'Broken China' Distress Ink and some stamping, this time with 'Faded Jeans' Distress Ink, added a bit of Washi Tape and also splashed a bit of diluted "Brushed Corduroy' Distress Ink around the page.

The flowers are a mix of Dusty Attic, Prima and Kaisercraft and the chippies are from Little Birdie.  Simply coloured them with Versa Magic "Cloud White' and Versa Color "Lapislazuli.

The clock is from Scrapbook'n'Craft and was coloured with Versa Color "Lapislazuli and then mounted on some paper coloured with the same ink.

Our page didn't turn out anything like Di's original  but then it was never meant to.  We just used the basic design and I am happy to say that Melanie was very pleased with the result and was very proud as she showed her Mum and Dad after we took her home.  Unfortunately, we didn't have time to do the Title which will simply be the dog's name but I will get that cut out some time at a later date and then Mel can add it to the page.
This may be the only Scrapbook page I ever create and the fact that it was done with my Granddaughter really makes it very special for me.  It was a really fabulous day!!

Thank you so much for visiting and hopefully leaving a little comment so I can pass it on to my Granddaughter.   We both would love to know what you think.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

Art Journal page - Just Breathe

Hello everyone, thank you so much for visiting.

I have another Art Journal page to share with you.  I wasn't actually going to post this one because so many things just didn't go right with it and I almost tossed it in the bin.  It was my lovely friend Heather Jacob who persuaded me that it wasn't a total loss, mind you she hasn't seen the finished product so maybe she'll change her mind ... LOL.  

She actually loved the background and I must say I do too.   The base colour was laid down using Walnut Stain and Faded Jeans Distress Inks.  I used the Walnut Stain again to randomly stamp around the page with the Arty stamp and  script stamp from Kaisercraft.    It was the texture paste that was the first thing to go wrong.  I used the Crafters Workshop Mini Ledger Stencil and it looked great but as it was drying the paste started to bleed into the paper.   Not happy Jan!!!!  Won't tell you which brand texture paste I used but I just wanted to throw the whole thing out.  This was the stage Heather saw it and persuaded me to do some more and see what happened.  

I was going to cover up the script but then decided to leave it as is.  After looking at it for a while I decided it wasn't a big issue and I could live with it.  So I said to myself  'just breathe' and think of what to do next.

So I added some flowers.

 Cut out some random flower shapes, stamped them with a KC stamp and coloured them with a mix  of Distress Inks and Reeves Water Soluble Wax Pastels.  Must say, I do like how they turned out.

 I originally had some paper flowers glued to the bottom of the page but again, didn't like it, so took them off again and added the hearts which were also stamped with a KC stamp and coloured with Distress Inks.

I went around the edges of the flowers and the hearts with the Wax Pastels in black and went around the edge again with a wet paintbrush to blend it a little and that went wrong too.  I made a mess.  Tried to fix it but it didn't work too well so, again, I left it.  Take a deep breath I said to myself and keep going.
There really wasn't much more I wanted to do except perhaps add a few words.  Thought about it and decided to add what I had been saying to myself all along.  'Just Breathe'.

Coloured some paper with the Faded Jeans, wrote the words and cut them out.  I then edged the pieces with Walnut Stain and glued them to the page.  And, of course, when I outlined it with the wax pastels and tried to blend it, I did it again ...  made a mess.  But, you know what, I figure this page is just for me.  I haven't made it to give to someone, it is just for me to have a little bit of creative time for myself.  So, what the heck!!  Doesn't matter if I made a mess and, funny enough, I actually do like it.  Probably because it was a pain to put together, but now it's done I can look back at it and say 'so what' if it didn't turn out the way I imagined and 'so what' if no-one else likes it.  It's mine and I can look back at it and laugh at myself for taking it all so seriously!!!!

Done!!!  Finished!!!!
"Just Breathe' !!!

Thank you so much for visiting, hope you enjoyed it a little bit.
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

Netting and Lace Ribbon

Hello everyone, I hope you are all having a fabulous day.  We have gorgeous sunshine in Adelaide after a night of wild winds and rain.  The weatherman just cannot make up his mind as to whether it's summer or winter.   He keeps flicking the switch every few minutes it seems.  Crazy!!

So, I am back to share another card.   Surprise!! Surprise!!  hehe!

This one has some netting incorporated into it and some gorgeous lace ribbon too.

I have seen the netting used in other peoples projects and really loved the look of it so decided to use it myself.  It adds a bit of softness to the card I think and I love that look.  To see where I got the inspiration from check out Dorota's Blog HERE  and Klaudia's blog HERE.  They both make the most beautiful cards.

 The papers I've used are Kaisercraft's On This DAy and I've distressed them quite heavily.  The lace is from my stash and I've glued it on with my heat gun, gathering it up a bit in the process.   The chipboard frames are from Little Birdie and I've actually used two different styles here ... an oval and a square frame.  The oval was used as is and the corner pieces were cut from the square frame.  I painted them with a mix of White and Mud Puddle Acrylic Paint and then coated them with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint.  As they are such small pieces the cracks are not huge, as you can see, but they do give them a bit of texture.

 The main flowers are a little daisy spray purchased from Seriously Scrapbooking.  I really loved the colour mix and thought they would help to brighten the card up a bit.  The small rose is from Kaisercraft and the white spray and other little flowers are from my stash.  The leaves are my staple which I've cut with my Silhouette Portrait and then inked and doodled.  The doodling idea came from the amazing Heather Jacob, you can find her blog HERE.

 

 Lined the inside with some paper from my stash and a strip of the KC On This DAy paper on the side.

 And there it is!!  

I just want to say how grateful I am that there are so many of you talented people out there willing to share your art and give inspiration to others.  I love looking at other people's work and I get such a lot of my ideas from them.  Thank you all so much for your generosity.  I do hope that, along the way, I've inspired a few of you too.

Thank you so much for visiting and, perhaps, leaving me a little comment.  I read each and every one and love them all!

I am hoping too that, very soon, I'll be able to share some wonderful news with you all!!

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

 

Lots of Layers

Hello everyone and a very warm welcome to my blog.

Just a quick post this time I think ... I have a card to share with you today.  It's very similar to one I made not long ago but there are a few differences.

 The papers I've used are from Kaisercraft's These Day and I've done a little doodling around the edges.  It saved me getting out the sewing machine although I think proper stitching would have looked better.  Never mind ... next time perhaps. 

Used lots of diecuts for the layers.  Although they are not easy to see I've used Marrianne Creatables Frame & Swirls and Swedish Snowflakes, Couture Creations Victorian Square and Dienamics Duo Doily Die.  I've torn one corner from the top paper mat, glued the torn off piece straight to the cardstock and then curled the corner of the base paper mat to reveal the piece torn off before.  Does that make sense??  Hopefully the photo below  gives you a better idea of what I mean.  

 All the edges were distressed and then inked with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.  The rolled corner was inked with Versa Color Bronze.  The flower is from Prima and I've lightly painted it with some Gesso.  The leaves were cut with my Silhouette and I've incorporated a small piece of gauze in amongst the layers.

 The wooden flourish at the base of the cluster is Kaisercraft's Fancy Border which was left raw. 

I decorated the inside with a few Kaisercraft Stamps and printed the sentiment with Word Art.

 You can see the layers a bit better here.

I have entered this card in Challenge  #29 at  Challenges 4 Everybody
 
That's it folks, hope you like it!!
Thank you so much for visiting and I would really love it if you could leave a little comment to let me know what you thought.  
Take care and God Bless.
oxox Marg

 

  

My Art Journal

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog.

I have an Art Journal page to share with you today.  Actually, this is my very first Art Journal page so  I must admit it's fairly simple but hopefully, as I get a bit more experienced at it, they will get better.

The background was created by just pressing a Distress Ink Pad in Faded Jeans onto my non-stick craft mat and then spraying with water and pressing the page onto that.

 

 I didn't realize at the time that there was also some Walnut Stain left on the mat so, of course, that also ended up on the page.  I really loved how it looked so I knew I had to do something with it.  Well, it sat on the edge of my craft desk for weeks because I had no idea how I was going to decorate it.  Until one day, I was looking through the few rolls of Washi Tape that I have and came across the birds and the music.  So a couple of strips of each went onto the page ...

 and then it sat for another week at least.  

The next step was the texture which was done with TCW's Mini Grandma's Doily in the bottom left corner and along the right side.

 Then came the sprays ... Sugar Plum Fairy Glimmer Mist and two I made up myself from some Distress Ink mixed with water.  One was Walnut Stain and the other was Mustard Seed.  It turned out a bit dark so I dry brushed over it with a bit of Gesso.   

Stamped the tea cup ring using a BoBunny texture stamp and found some Kaisercraft labels which were placed down the right hand side ...

and then the quote.  This is one I've used before but I thought it was fitting because I'm sort of spreading my wings out into the world of Art Journalling!!  I think??  Anyway, printed the quote onto some plain paper, cut out the strips and inked the edges with Tea Dye Distress Ink.

The bottom left corner looked a bit empty so I filled it with a couple of white Prima flowers.   Used Tea Dye Distress Ink on the flowers and around the edge of the page as well.

So, there it is ... my first Art Journal page but, hopefully, not my last.  Hope you like it.

Thank you so much for visiting I really do appreciate you stopping by. 

Hope you enjoy the rest of your day and I would be so pleased if you left me a little comment.  Thank you.

Take care and God bless.

oxox Marg

 

Hot Air Balloons and Chevrons

Hello everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying your day as much as I am.  The weather is absolutely beautiful here at the moment ... hope it lasts!

I have another card to show you.  This one is for my nephew who turns 11 shortly.  

 For this card I've used Kaisercraft's Check In Papers ... they are quite colourful and, I think, very suitable for a child's card.

 I mounted the different papers on a dark blue cardstock to define them a bit from each other, and then used a Kaisercraft background stamp on the side underneath the chevrons.

 This is my first attempt at making chevrons and I didn't realise how difficult it was to make them the same size.  Had to throw a few away but, in the end, I did manage to make them nearly the same.  You can probably tell they are not exact but I'm just going to say it adds to the character of the card ... hehehe!

  The small hot air balloon is a wood  flourish from Kaisercraft.  I coloured it with some Versa Color Stamp Pads and also lightly stamped it with another background stamp from, Kaisercraft and layered it on top of a ticket from my stash.

 Printed the greeting on my computer, mounted it on some cardstock and placed a couple of small brads on the ends.

 Decorated the inside with more paper from the same collection, added a label and a contrasting strip and printed the sentiment with Word Art.

 

 And there you have it.  A card for my nephew with a Hot Air Balloon and Chevrons.

I am entering this card in the ABC Challenge which this week is 'No flowers'.

Thank you so much for stopping by,

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg