A Card for the Men.

Hello sweet crafty visitors and welcome to my blog.  So pleased you dropped by.

Does anyone else have problems thinking up titles for their Blog posts??  I never know what to use for a Title so they all seem pretty blah! to me.  Wish I could think of something cool to call them .. ah well, it is what it is. 

Sharing another masculine card with you today.  Still going through some old paper pads that I've got in my stash.  These are from Kaisercraft's 'Sears and Son' Collection.

This one is a bit more 'grungy' than the ones I've shown lately .. just felt in that type of mood.

The inspiration for this card came from one made by Pamellia Johnson.  If you don't know Pamellia, she is an exceptionally talented lady who makes the most wonderfully romantic shabby chic cards and she has also created some fabulous male cards.

To see the card that inspired me HERE is the link.   You will see that my card looks nothing like hers but I didn't set out to copy it, I simply gained some ideas from it.

Like the layers, the tags and the twine ..

.. the printed clocks covered with epoxy stickers and the little 'bites' taken from the edges of the cardstock strip.  Even if you can't 'see' it, the design is similar too.
Thank you so much Pamellia .. your 'Little Craft Things' are truly inspiring.

Added some metallic seed beads and a couple of staples.  The staples didn't go in properly and I was going to remove them and try again but then decided, 'what the heck, it adds character'.  LOL!!

The chippy Chicken Wire is from 2Crafty .. bits left over from other projects.  Slowly getting to use those up but still have heaps to get through.  Just coloured with stamp pads and covered in Glossy Accents.

The small 'Celebrate' chippy is from Scrapmatts.  Love their little word chippies, so easy to add onto a card for the greeting.

The usual pockets on the inside  with some added doodling and stamping.

Must admit, I do like that touch of  grunge on my male cards .. makes them a bit more 'manly' I guess.  LOL!!

Thank you so much for dropping by and taking a look at my little creations and for any comments you may care to leave.  I really do appreciate each and every one.

Take care and God Bless.

Girls Day Out Folios # 3

Hello again everyone and welcome to my blog.  Hope you are all having a wonderful day and that the weather, wherever you are, is being kind to you.
It hasn't been so kind to us here in Adelaide lately with people's homes being flooded and torn apart.  It's been absolutely heartbreaking, and there is more bad weather on the way.   Just really hope this will be the last of it for quite some time to come. 

I am back to share the third photo folio made as an exchange gift for my Girls Day Out with Adriana Bolzon, Astrid Maclean, Heather Jacob and Helen Wallace.   I hope you are not tired of these yet as there is still a bit more to come.  I will be posting a little (not so little, actually! LOL!!)  step by step tutorial soon.
If you'd like to take a look at the gifts these beautiful ladies made for me, you can find them HERE.  The first of the folios is HERE and the second one is HERE.

This folio was made for Heather Jacob.

The papers used here are from Kaisercraft's Rustic Harmony 6.5" paper pad.

The design is similar to the Tim Holtz Collection Folios but my version is smaller being only 6.75" x 5".  As with the other two I have only inked the edges, added some stamping, stenciling, die cuts and scrapmatts chippies.

There is a pocket on the inside front cover which holds a photo mat.

The first page is a half pocket page that holds a folded card which was used for all of us to write a personal message.

The paper on the inside of the card is from Prima.

 

 Two half pockets make up the next page.

Each pocket holds a journaling card for recording the details of the day.
 

A full pocket page with a flap held down with a magnet.

 The pocket contains another photo mat.

The final page flips out ..

.. once ..

.. twice ..

.. and here is the back of the flip page and the inside cover ..

.. and, lastly, the back of the book.

As explained in the previous posts, I didn't do much in the way of embellishments as I felt the ladies could decide for themselves whether they wanted to embellish or not once the photos were in.

So, I have now shared all the folios I created for the ladies and, all that is left to do, is the step by step tutorial.  I am hoping to have that ready either next week or the week after, all going well.
I really enjoyed making these folios.  Not only because I knew they were going to some wonderful friends but also because I loved the challenge of designing the book and then putting it all together.  Doing things like that keeps the mind active and, at my age, I need all the mental exercise I can get  LOL!!

Of course, I can't close this post without giving you the links to the wonderfully creative ladies I made these folios for.

In alphabetical order
Adriana Bolzon - AB Inspirations
Astrid Maclean - Astrid's Artistic Efforts
Heather Jacob - Art and Life
Helen Wallace - Textures and Tales

Love you, gorgeous girls.

Thank you so much once again for dropping by and taking a look at my creations, I really appreciate you taking the time.

Take care, stay safe and God Bless.

Vintage Journal - A card for Megs Garden

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog.  So pleased you came by for a visit.

I'd like to share a card I created with the gorgeous new paper line by Megs Garden called 'Vintage Journal'.  I have used one of the papers from the A4 printable sheets.  I absolutely love this version because I can print out exactly the page I want and even alter the size if necessary .. brilliant.  

The paper used is Vintage Journal 01 and, as I wanted a soft and subtle look to my card, I did lighten the colour a little before printing. 

This card was actually made as a Get Well card for a very dear friend of mine who was in Hospital for an operation.  I wanted it to be bright and cheerful and to, hopefully, raise her spirits.

The extra layers were simply torn to size and, to soften the look even more, I gathered some lace from my stash and layered it in between.

The flowers are all available at Megs Garden.  I will leave a list of products at the end of this post.  I usually get my flowers in white so that I can then colour them to suit my project if necessary.   

The frame was made with a silicon mould and Mod Podge Melts.  The chippie is from a Circle Word by 2Crafty Chipboard.  I simply cut away the circle, coloured the word with gesso and then, while it was still wet, sprinkled it with glitter.

The inside was decorated with the same paper.  I'm afraid the lighting wasn't very good when I took the next two shots, hence the colour looks greyish.  I use natural light so am very dependant on the weather being nice and sunny but on this day it wasn't co-operating.  Still, it does show the lovely pattern on the paper and next time I will just have to take all the photos at the one time.

With all the layers and flowers, etc. that I place on the front of my cards it is sometimes difficult to keep them standing up so I do, at times, have to add paper to the back to balance the weight a little.  It works!! 

I am very happy to say that my friend came through her ordeal with flying colours and is well on the mend.

Megs Garden products used:

Vintage Journal A4 Printable papers

Azaleas

Puffy Paper Flowers

Small White Roses

Mini Rosebuds

Lace

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a look at my little creation.  Why not pop over to the Megs Garden Blog and check out the amazing projects made by my Teamies.
You should also take a look around the Megs Garden store.  I am sure you will find lots of things you cannot live without.  I know I do .. every time .. LOL!!

Take care and God Bless.

oxox Marg

Girls' Day Out Folios # 2

Hello again everyone and welcome to my blog.  So happy to have you visit and hope you are having a fabulous day!

In a previous post I explained about a fabulous day out I had recently with some wonderful scrapping friends of mine .. Adriana Bolzon, Astrid Maclean, Heather Jacob and Helen Wallace.    We all exchanged handmade gifts on the day.  I shared the gifts I received in this post HERE and the first of the photo folios I made HERE and now I would like to share the second of my folios.  This one was made for Astrid Maclean.

The papers used are from Kaisercraft's Heirloom 6.5 x6.5 Paper Pad.

The design is similar to the Tim Holtz Collection Folios but my version is smaller.  The outside measurement is 6.75" x 5". 

 As in the first folio I shared, I only added some stamping, stenciling, washi tape and a few chipboard pieces from Scrapmatts.
The pocket on the inside front cover holds a photo mat ..
 

.. and the first page is a pocket that holds a small folded card ..

.. which was ideal for all of us to write a personal message.  The paper on the inside of the card is from Prima.

Next are two small half pockets ..

.. each holds a journaling card which, I thought, would be ideal for recording the details of the day.

The next page is a full sized pocket.  The flap is held down with a magnet ..

 
.. and there is another photo mat inside.

The last page folds out ..

.. once ..

.. twice, so there is plenty of room on both sides for photos.

The last page ..

 .. and the back cover.

Not much in the way of embellishment in these booklets as I feel it is much easier to add them after the photos are in and, besides, the ladies know what they themselves prefer and can decide whether they want to embellish, or not.

So, this was the second of my folios.  I will share the other in the next week or so and then, hopefully, soon after that I will share the final ones and the step by step instructions.  Hope you will return to take a look.

Thank you so much for dropping by and, if you would like to take a look at the work done by these fabulous ladies here, in alphabetical order, are the links.

Adriana Bolzon - AB Inspirations
Astrid Maclean - Astrid's Artistic Efforts
Heather Jacob - Art and Life
Helen Wallace - Textures and Tales

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