My Planner - April Set Up

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  Hope your day is going well.  A very special welcome to my new followers.  Thank you so much for joining me.

I have another Planner update to share with you.  Around the middle of each month, I start to set up the pages for the following month and I thought I would share the process.  So this is how I have set up my Planner ready for April.

Firstly, these are the divider pages I have made.

In the previous sets of dividers, I actually included a pocket to store the stickers, etc. for use during the month, but now I have actually placed all my stickers and labels and such in a small set of plastic drawers that sits on the top of my work bench.  The page did need a little decorating though so I simply added some ribbon and a couple of labels.

 

I believe I have mentioned in previous posts that the cover page for each month is actually one of Katie Pertiet's free printables.  HERE is the link to her Free Downloads page in case you would like to take a look.

I love Katie's designs and the quotes she uses.  I found a journal card that sort of matched the month tab and simply resized it on Photo shop to fit the page.

The full month at a glance where I record all my reminders and appointments, etc. 

I started doing some stamping and stenciling in my March pages and I have continued that in the April pages.

The stencil used on the middle section of the page is from Tim Holtz and I used  Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.  I wanted it kept in the background so didn't get too heavy on the ink. 

Around the edges I have used a leaf stamp.  Have no idea where it's from .. found it in my stash.  Here I used two stamp pads ..  VersaColor Lime and Kaisercraft Brown.  I actually started off with just the Lime but didn't like the look so added the Brown and simply went a little nuts I think, stamping it quite a few times.  I  do like how it turned out.

I have added a few Heidi Swapp transparencies to my Planner for no other reason but that I like them.  (Good enough reason I reckon'.  LOL!!)

The quotes are a mix .. some off the net and some out of Kaisercraft 6 x 6 mini Paper Pads.  I have tons of these pads (love Kaisercraft papers) and they have some great quotes in the back of them.

The same page with the transparency moved out of the way.  Rather than use up all my washi tape (I don't really have a lot) I mostly use strips of designer paper to decorate my pages but I have added washi tape to the inside edges.  Adds a bit more interest I think.  This particular washi tape I found at Office Works.

The weekly pages where I record what actually happens each day.
  Well, most days anyway.   There will be days where nothing much worth recording happens so, those sections will just be filled with stickers, etc.

Week 1 

Not really happy with the above page .. a bit wishy washy .. but, perhaps, once I get some daily happenings in there and add some stickers, etc. it will probably look better.  I hope!!  LOL!!

Week 2

These weekly pages are basically the same .. just different papers and different quotes.
I have found a design/pattern I like and I'm sticking to it.   For the moment anyway.  Perhaps, further down the track I will find another way to do it but, for now, this suits me.  I know the quotes and paper I add take up a fair bit of the writing space but, if I do have notes I want to record, or if the day sections aren't big enough to take everything I want to write there, I simply add a note page in the center.  To see what I mean, check out my January pages HERE.

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

All the pages for this Planner are actually free printables from PenGems.   I have downloaded the full year of pages but I only print out the month I'm working on.  If you wish to get them for yourself HERE is the link.

The week pages are not numbered so I purchased some Heidi Swapp Clear Number Stickers and added them to the week pages.  They are the perfect size for this Planner.

.. And, there you are .. April all ready and set to go.  In a week or so, I will share  how March finished up looking.  Hope you will come back to take a peek!!

Thanks for dropping by and enjoy the rest of your day!
Take care and God Bless.

Man Card - Clean and Simple

Hello everyone!  

A very warm welcome to my blog ... so glad you dropped by.
Hope the weather in your part of the world is treating you kindly.  It's actually been quite cool here in Adelaide today, which is wonderful, but they tell me it's going to warm up again.  Just hope it doesn't get too hot.  Hate the heat!!

Anyways, I am back to share another masculine card with you.  This one was made for a close friend.  As the post title suggests, this one is actually quite clean and simple.  Well, for me anyway.  LOL!!

Here 'tis

The papers used are from 7Dots Studio and are part of a give-away I won from Helen Tilbury at 

Scrap Addict.  

Not a lot of layers, and not much grunge happening here.

I did splash a bit of black ink around  and added some washi tape.  I also 'rusted' up the little metal cogs a bit as you can see.

Haven't used an embossing folder in an age so I decided to drag one out for this card and I did ink the raised areas with some VersaColor stamp pads.

   

Heat embossed the greeting, mounted it on some cardstock and then simply attached it to the card with some bits of twine.

Just decorated the inside with some border punched strips of paper.  The bottom section is a pocket ...

...  which is used to hold the verse.  My personal message was written on the other side.

And that's it, all done and dusted!!  As I said, it is a bit cleaner and simpler than I usually do but my grungy mojo has gone west.  Besides, I thoroughly enjoyed making this card and think I will be doing more of the simpler ones.  I also want to try some watercolour cards and have been haunting You Tube for ideas and techniques.  Have been hopeless in the past with watercolour but I'm going to keep trying and, hopefully, will be able to get it done!!  One can dream, can't one??  LOL!!

Thank you so much for dropping by and do enjoy the rest of your day.

Take care and God Bless.

Positive Tags

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog space.  A very special welcome to my new followers, so lovely to have you here.

Sorry that I've been AWOL for a little while.  I actually didn't realize it had been so long since my last post.  I had some problems with my computer which, thankfully, are now fixed and I have been a bit busy creating  but unfortunately can't show any of that as it's mostly DT projects.  I now have a lot of blog visits to catch up on and all that is apart from things happening at home.  Nothing drastic thank goodness, but still things that had to be taken care of.  Anyway, now that I'm kind of back to normal I find that I don't have a lot that I can actually post about except for a couple of tags that I made a while ago for my Positivity Journal.

I had to make these tags fairly simple so that they will fit into the pockets so, basically, I've only used some stencils and stamps on them.

 I cut these tags from Prima's Ledger Pad Collection as it is quite thick and sturdy.  Inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then stenciled with TCW's Mini Bricks Stencil and Tea Stain Distress.

 The stamps are both from Kaisercraft.  The butterflies are from their Tiger Lily Collection and I stamped it with Fired Brick Distress Ink and the quote is from the Blubelle Collection and was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black.

 The Washi tape with the script is from Tim Holtz, it is my absolute favourite, I use it all the time.  I have no idea who produces the other one though.

This next tag was cut from the same papers but then I used a technique from a tutorial shared by Jenny Marples on A Vintage Journey blog.  If you'd like to take a look for yourself HERE is the link.   It basically shows how to layer stencils and stamps etc. which I had done before but not quite in the same manner.   I didn't follow Jenny's tutorial exactly but I do like how this turned out.  

Painted the tag with gesso first and then edged it with gathered twigs D.I.  When dry, I used the Tim Holtz Doily Stencil with Crushed Olive Distress Ink and over that I used the Tim Holtz Burlap Stencil with Gathered Twigs.  Then it was stamped with a Prima script stamp and Walnut Stain D.I and Kaisercraft's Crackle Stamp and Black Soot D.I.

The die cuts are from Kaisercraft ...

... and the flourish was cut with the Hearts Swirl Die from Magnolia Ink.
As I said, these tags are fairly simple because I can't use anything dimensional on them, but I'm still pleased with how they turned out.
Slowly but surely my Positivity Journal is taking shape.  There is still a lot to do though, so it is going to take quite some time to finish, especially as I'm only working on it in my spare time.

Thank you so much for dropping by and for any comments you may leave.  I really appreciate you taking the time.

I do hope you enjoy the rest of your day.
Take care and God Bless.
Marg   oxox

'Happiness' Art Journal Page

Hello lovely people and welcome to my blog.  

Here I am again to share another Art Journal page with you.  Wow!!  This is a first for me ... two journal pages in a row.   My Journal pages usually take quite a long time for me to finish because I never really know what I'm going to do.  I am still experimenting with this medium and I very rarely have a design in my head when I start.  I do usually know the colours I want to use but once I've got that on the paper I don't always know where to go from there so it sits on my desk until I decide what to do next.  This page was a bit different.  I started with the basic colours and it all came together quite quickly from there.  It still took most of a day but when you consider that they usually take me a few weeks to complete, this one came together very quickly indeed.

 After posting my last page, I was in the mood for getting a bit messy so started creating the background colour.  I tried laying down some gesso but still don't seem to have the knack.  I watered it down a bit thinking that might make the difference but for some reason, when I coat the page with gesso the colour just seems to disappear.  I've seen other people's work using gesso and theirs is fabulous, but I just can't seem to make it work. Consequently my first page ended up in the bin.  It was an awful mess.  So then I started this page without the gesso and it worked!!  I'm really happy with this background ... I love the dark, richness of it!!  I used watered down Distress Inks in Brushed Corduroy, Broken China and Walnut Stain and also used watered down Viva Precious Metal Colour in Olive.  You can't really see it in these photos but the green has a lovely golden sheen to it.

 Brushed on some 'Clear Rock Candy' Distress Crackle Paint in a couple of places and used 'Walnut Stain' through a  Crackle Stencil by Scrapbookncraft.  Used a music stamp by Prima with Memento Tuxedo Black and the top from one of my spray bottles dipped in gesso and then in Black Soot Distress Stain for the circles.

 The hearts were cut from some plain cardstock with a Fiskars Shape Cutter and then coloured with Fired Brick and Mustard Seed Distress Ink.  Glued them onto the page and then outlined them with a black watercolour pencil and also highlighted them with a white gel pen.

 Here you can see the other patch of the crackle.

I had actually intended to put flowers on this page, hence the washi tape which was meant to be the ground.  When I changed my mind and used the hearts instead I tried to remove the tape but it started tearing the paper beneath it so I simply left it there.   

The quote stamp is from Kaisercraft.  Stamped it with Memento Tuxedo Black and then clear embossed it.  I was very pleased with myself that I finished this page so quickly and I must say, I am really happy with the result, it really represents how I feel about my life right now.  I am very, very blessed to have a wonderful, loving family and some amazing and treasured friends, so my heart really does bubble over with happiness right now and happiness is so much better when it's shared isn't it??
Even in the tough times we really do need to sit back and count our blessings.

Thank you so much for visiting, I am really pleased you came to have a look.  Please do come again.

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

A Thank you for a Sweet Friend

Hello my lovely visitors and welcome to my blog.  I do hope you are enjoying your day.  We're getting quite a bit of rain in Adelaide today.  It's wonderful!!

I'd especially like to welcome my new followers.  Thank you so much ladies for joining me, I really do appreciate it.

Today I'd like to share a card I made as a Thank you to a dear friend.  I have known this lady for a number of years and she would have to be the kindest soul you could ever hope to meet.

 The papers I've used are from Maja's 'Walking in the Forest' Collection.  I've also used a little bit of Prima's Sunrise Sunset paper for one of the die cut layers.  

 The flower is from Prima.  I've had it in my stash for quite a long time and finally found the right place to use it.  I love the little charms and pearls attached to it.  

 The base paper was cut to size and then distressed but all the other layers have simply been torn to the size and shape I wanted.  Makes it look extra shabby, and I love that.

 Added some bits in between the layers such as the half square doily, the gauze and the punched sprigs.

The two chippies on the side are Imaginarium's Tiny Keri Flourish.  They have been coloured with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then lightly brushed with Versa Color Gold.

Tucked a KC paper flower in at the bottom, which was also lightly brushed with gold Versa Color, and also added some strips of Tim Holtz Washi Tape.

Rolled some of the edges of the paper.  I really love that look.  The flourish shape under the flower was cut from white cardstock with my Silhouette.  I then stamped it with Kc's Script stamp and edged it with Tea Stain Distress Ink to make it blend in.

On the inside I simply adhered a number of torn strips of the Washi Tape.  I need to find a really lovely friendship quote to add to the card before I can give it to my friend.

My friend loves blues and orange so I am really pleased that I found this paper range.  It was perfect for my card.

I am so pleased you came for a visit and thank you for taking the time.  Hopefully you enjoyed it enough that you will want to come back.

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