Notecard Journal for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

My project this week as Guest Designer for AALL & Create is a journal with a difference.  It is a little project that could be made as a handmade Birthday or Christmas gift.

The journal itself is an Eileen Hull die (Sizzix  ), I cut it from black mountboard and then stencilled the whole cover using AALL & Create Stencil #50 by Autour de Mwa.

I stamped AALL & Create's #175 stamp by Kailin Paltridge onto a die cut piece of white mountboard and coloured the lips with watercolour paint.

Below is a view of the inside.  I created pockets and some mini cards and envelopes.

I decorated the card holders with the same stencil as the cover.

To create the six notecards I used AALL & Create stamp sets #175 (Kaitlin Paltridge), #6 (Tracy Evans) and #165 (Tracy Evans).  The notecards measure 3.7/8" x 2.1/2".  The envelopes were created with a Tim Holtz die and measure 4" x 2.3/4".

For anyone who is interested, I created the two pockets using the design below.  I am sharing the dimensions on light colour card so that you can read them!

To finish off I added a toggle button and elastic closure.


You can find a full list of international stockists for AALL & Create stamps and stencils HERE.

Thanks so much for your visit, I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xxx

Red Baron for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

As we are not too far away from Father's Day here in the UK,  I created a male themed card as my Guest Designer post for AALL & Create this week.  

I used Olga Heldwein's fabulous Red Baron stamp (Stamp #114) along with her Geometric stencil (#81). 

I started by using a piece of watercolour card and applied a layer of watercolour paint over the whole piece.  Before it dried I placed the stencil on top and rubbed gently over the stencil with a damp cloth to lift some of the colour.  The cloth needs to be damp but not too wet.

I created two backgrounds using the above method and also stamped a plain piece of card (which was used to fussy cut and colour the airplane element).  

I cut the rest of the elements from the darker of the two base pieces.  I also painted some screw head brads to use as embellishments.

I layered up each of the circles on foam pads to give them some height.  The airplanes were added without dimension.You can also see the brads in place here.  I stamped a sentiment from a stamp set by Tracy Evans.

To finish off I splattered over the whole card with white, black and red acrylic paint, mounted it onto black card and then onto a white card blank.

You can find a list of worldwide stockists of the stamps and stencil I used HERE.

Thanks so much for your visit, it is always appreciated!

Hugs, Anne xx

Mixed Media Board for AALL & Create

Hello Friends

My project for AALL & Create this week is a little different for me!  I had not really

intended to create a 'Jessica Rabbit' lookalike and I didn't really have a plan, but I have long been inspired by the faces that Jane Davenport paints and so she just evolved.  Kaitlin Paltridge's beautiful face stamp was a perfect starting point!

The board measures 8.1/2" square and is good strong board so it took a lot of product.

I planned where I wanted to have her face and stamped it using stamp #129 by Kaitlin Paltridge for AALL & Create, the stamp is called 'Edge'.

I used watercolour paints to colour in her face, pencilled in her hair and then covered the parts of her face that I wanted to hide with a little gesso.

I did the hair next, using several colours of acrylic paint and then gave it a wash with watercolour paint.  I used a black fine liner pen to scribble on the hair to give it some movement.

Next, I used watercolour paint, spreading it quite randomly over the background and then used Stencil #79 (Sputnik) by Olga Heldwein over the background, lifting some of the paint off with a wet paper towel.

I don't have an 'in process' picture but I covered the face and hair and then stamped over the whole piece with stamp #119 (Print by Numbers) by Tracy Evans.  I felt it needed the boldness of the black to tone down the hair colour somewhat.

 I stamped and coloured two flowers from Tracy's stamp set and added these to her hair.  I also stamped the sentiment from stamp #54 (Strings 'n' Scripts) by Bipasha BK.

Finally, I added some splatters of white acrylic paint.

You can find worldwide stockists for the stamps and stencils I used HERE.

Thanks so much for your visit, I hope to see you again soon.

Hugs, Anne xx

Book It for A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends

It is time for a new challenge at A Vintage Journey and the theme this month is 'Book It' and the lovely Deb is our host.

Deb says 'there is nothing better than curling up with a good book to take us away to another place!  This month we'd like you to think about books - perhaps you will make a book, or a journal, create a journal page showing a scene from one of your favourite books (do please tell us what book) or a card showing someone reading or made using text stamps, stencils or word stickers.  Just remember to create in one of our preferred styles of vintage, shabby, mixed media, art journalling, industrial, timeworn or steampunk'.

I have a real love for old cameras and for making journals, so I combined the two for this month's challenge and created this grungy notebook journal, using a wonderful new camera stamp from Inventor 8 (CMS375) by Tim Holtz, one of many gifts from my dear friend Kath Stewart.

After die cutting the journal base, using Eileen Hull's latest notebook journal die (Sizzix 663635), I used Distress Oxide in Vintage Photo and Pumice Stone, smooshing it on my mat and picking it up with the notebook journal, drying it off, picking up some more until I was happy with the result.

I did the inside of the cover in the same way.

I stamped the camera onto the front cover, I also stamped the back of the notebook with another of Tim's new stamp sets, Fragments (CMS 368).  I stamped more of the elements and gathered the Idea-ology items together that I wanted to use to decorate the notebook.

I added a ready made collaged pocket to the inside front cover and I used Tim's Stitched Slots die (Sizzix 662697) for the inside back cover.

I layered up the camera on the front of the journal, added elastic stringing and placed an Idea-ology drawer pull to the side of the journal.

I created one signature, added some Remnant Rubs and a film strip (a very old Tim Holtz die), along with some Idea-ology film strip which I added to the pocket.

To finish off the inside I made a file folder and added some charms attached to an Idea-ology clip.  I added an elastic closure for display purposes only, the finished journal is free of the closure, I didn't want it to interfere with the camera.

EDITED:  I have been asked how I made the File Folder above, here is a 'pattern' that I created for Eileen's Passport Journal which is a similar size to the new Notebook.

I do hope you can join us at A Vintage Journey and I hope you will visit to see the wonderful projects that the team has made.

Thanks so much for your visit, it is much appreciated.

Hugs, Anne xx

File Folder Album for Mini Album Makers

Hello Friends

The first of the month means a new challenge at Mini Album Makers and it would be lovely if you could join in with us.  Our rules are straightforward, any handmade book goes. Enter any form of handmade mini albums, scrapbooks, journals and book arts.  You must add our badge to your post and link to our challenge to be eligible to win a prize.  Please see the full rules on the Mini Album Makers blog HERE.

I had a single manila file folder sitting on my desk and I wondered if I could make a whole mini album from it, and it worked!

Here is how I made the mini album:

I started by cutting the file folder in half mid way and I then folded the outer edges towards the middle, no measuring, but I did try to keep the folded edges all in a line, at the left hand side, so that the edge of the album would be nice and neat.

This is how it looks after folding.  Later on I rounded some of the pages, including the cover.

I separated the two sections and added glue to the marked areas above and also along the spine section (not shown as marked above). This creates a lovely big 'pocket' in the middle of the journal.
Note:  It is not strictly necessary to add glue to the spine edge to create the pocket as a binding will be added to the finished album.

I then created two top opening inner pockets by gluing two edges, as shown above, leaving the top of each one open.

The mini album comprises four sets of pages and three pockets, two at the top and one at the side, all of which you can add tags or keepsakes to.

Now it was time for the fun part!  I had some lovely neutral tone papers in my stash and I used these to line each of my pages.  I added some random pieces of collage and some washi tape here and there.  I added a beautiful Tim Holtz flower die cut (Sizzix 664163) on top of the collage.  I also finished each of the edges of the pages with Antique Linen Distress Oxide to give a neat finish.

For the next set of pages I created a pocket on the left side, decorated with Tim Holtz's latest Crochet die (Sizzix 664178) to finish the pocket.  I added some collage to the right hand side along with another Tim die cut flower.

For the third set of pages I created another pocket on the left side, finished it with another piece of Tim Holtz Crochet die cut - it looks like real lace.

For the final pages I added some collage papers and another die cut flower.

I added a border strip to the edge of the completed album, to finish it off and make it look neat.  For the ribbon closure I added a little envelope to the back and threaded some sari ribbon through.

I decorated a few tags (standard size 8 trimmed to fit) and tucked these into the pockets.

Here is another view of the front, I added more of Tim's flowers to finish off.  I also added some of Tim Holtz's Clippings Stickers word strips to each of the pages and to the cover.

The size of the finished album is approx. 5.3/4" by 5" at it's widest.

Our Sponsor this month is The Funkie Junkie, a wonderful Craft Boutique, who are offering a Prize Package to one randomly selected winner.

Website: www.thefunkiejunkie.com
Blog: http://frillyandfunkie.blogspot.com/

We do hope you will join in with us this month at Mini Album Makers.  I hope you will visit to see what my talented teamies have made to inspire you!

Thanks so much for your visit, it is much appreciated!

Hugs, Anne xx