Thanks

Hello. Call me old fashioned but I think it's still lovely to send a little note to say thanks, especially in these strange and horrible times. A little cheery, hand written note popping through the letter box would certainly brighten anyones day and would be a wonderful way to show how grateful you are for that gift, bunch of flowers or just for being a good friend.

I used 'Wreath Rascals' stamp set by Tracey Hey (link in my side bar) and coloured using my Distress Markers. I added some red sequins for a touch of bling.

 

December Daily Collage

Hello. Today I want to share my December Daily Collage book with you. In previous years I have recorded my December in a Simple Stories album using pocket pages to display daily photographs of places and memories. Well, for obvious reasons that's not happening this year! So, I have decided to follow the daily prompts provided by 49 Dragonflies over on YouTube. 

I have filmed a flip through of my first six pages and a 'how to' for today's page, the seventh. You can find it over on my channel here.

Here is my intro' page - 

The book I am using already has a great cover. I simply added the 2020 and some recycled sari ribbon as a closure. The book has been altered inside, watch the video to see how! 

I will be back with updates, hopefully weekly, on how my book is coming along.

Merry Christmas

Hello. After using the goodies from my November Sweet Treat Box to decorate my Christmas Planner (blog post here) I still had enough stash left to make these cards. Considering they were made from 'leftovers' I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out!

For the top card I used my papers and branch stamp - fussy cut, a white feather, a wooden tree and some sequins. The only item not from the box is my little bit of ribbon through the tag. For the second card I fussy cut two of the poinsettias from the papers and layered them up. And again, added a feather wooden hat, snowflake and sequins.

And here you can see all the dimension.

Well, my December box has just popped through the letter box so I'm off to have a play. It's not Christmas themed and that suits me perfectly. I'll share what is in my box very soon.

Collage Booklet - ABstudio

Hello. Brrrr, frosty morning here but makes a nice change from the wind and rain! I've been having a play with my new ABstudios goodies (my haul video is here). I've made a little collage booklet, I'm calling it a collage booklet as I don't think it's mixed media as I didn't use any paints and stuff. And I'm not calling it a journal as I'm not going to write in it! Anyway, who cares what it's called I had loads of fun putting it together.

The papers lend themselves to fussy cutting, so that's what I did. Loads of fussy cutting! Once all the pages were filled with the gorgeous papers I added some texture. Some pompom trim, seam binding, lace and cheesecloth. I even got my jar of buttons out, and it's been a while since I did that!

There is a full flip through of my booklet here over on my YouTube channel.

ABstudios goodies are available over at Paper, Pen and Plan, quote LIZ10 for 10% off.

I'm A Guest Elf!

Hello. I'm chuffed to bits to be a guest elf over at the Christmas Kickstart Challenge. Jo has been a fellow blogger (Just A Dotty Pudding is her blog) for many years and started this challenge to help us all get organised for the big day!

 The challenge for this two weeks is 'Twas The Night Before Christmas so, of course, I had to use some cute mice by Penny Black.

 I'd love if you could pop over to the challenge blog and say hi. 

I'll see you there!

Prima Mixed Media Book - part 3

Hello. As we can no longer meet up the Craftaholics decided to do an online craft-a-long. For a couple of hours the other Saturday afternoon we had a blether while we worked on a project. And this was my project! A page in my Prima Mixed Media Book. I used my Crafters Bundle set by ABstudios. I love this set, it makes mixed media really easy, especially for a beginner like me.

You can buy the goodies here, and quote LIZ10 for 10% off - 

Prima Mixed Media Book

Crafters Bundle ABStudio 

Mixed Media Part 1 is here

Mixed Media Part 2 is here

Planning Christmas 2020

Hello. The first step in planning anything is decorating a notebook! To hold my plans for this year I chose a smaller notebook than my travellers journal cover. This means I can easily take my plans and lists out and about with me! I used loads of stash from my November Sweet Treat Box on the small notebook. 

I have filmed a flip through and you can find it over on my YouTube channel here.

Here's a peek inside. I used a mix of alphabet stickers from my stash - feels good to use some up!

I always find it really handy to have a monthly overview. I just hand drew the boxes, I love the effect of them not being perfect. The twigs on the edges and also on my tag bookmark is a stamp and is available here (quote LIZ10 for 10% off).

I made this acetate divider last year and still love it! The journal below is all set for recording my December memories. I normally give December a Simple Stories album all to itself but I have a feeling there may not be the same amount of memories to record this year!

Holly Happy Christmas

Hello. Another Christmas card for the box! The stamp is called 'Nature's Best' and I coloured using my Inktense watercolour pencils. In fact, there's a full step by step video showing you exactly how this card came together. You can find it over on my channel here.

Thanks for stopping by, stay safe.

Art by Marlene Journal

Hello, today I have a little art journal to share (there is a full flip through over on my YouTube channel here). A few weeks ago I treated myself to some Art by Marlene products from Dizzy Birds Crafts. And I have to say I am loving my new crafty stash. 

I have dies that cut out the journal cover and inside pages perfectly with matching decorative dies. The quirky images pop out easily from the books and you get two of each image so you don't need to save your favourite one and can use them up without a second thought! The sticky quotes match the collection, and there is so many to choose from! 

I cut my cover from black cardstock and the inside pages from mixed media paper. I did this because I wanted to have some inky fun on the backgrounds using my stencils and background stamps.

Once the backgrounds were all dry I stuck down the images and my chosen quotes. To 'blend' the images to the backgrounds I used a dark watercolour pencil and a black marker pen around the edges.

On some pages I used my white Posca pen to add some highlights and doodling. The pages are held together using some black and white twine. 

I have filmed a flip through of the journal, you can find it on my channel here.

Snowy Happy Christmas

Hello. It's the first day of November and I thought it might be an idea to start making some Christmas cards! I have used an old faithful stamp called Snowy by Penny Black. It's a sort of tradition that I use Snowy and hubby says 'no, not another year of Snowy's'. Maybe this year I'll only use him once!

I have filmed a step by step 'how to' video for this card and I'd love if you could take a look and maybe give me a wee thumbs up! You can find the video here.

Take care and stay safe.

Mixed Media Tags

Hello. I've been having a bit of a mixed media play. Tags are always a good option to try out some new stash on a small scale! On the backgrounds of both tags I used Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain and Tea Dye Distress Marker. I think these two colours go together well for a sort of vintage look. 

The butterfly on the girl tag was printed on acetate, coloured and fussy cut. I also added some gold foil to the girl tag. The butterfly tag has muslin and flowers from this month's Sweet Treat Box. I added some Speckled Egg and Tea Dye to them - I love the way they have turned out!

The stash I have mentioned is available from Paper, Pen and Plan over on Etsy. 

Quote LIZ10 for 10% off.

Dotty About You

Hello. I have a very quick and easy card card to share today. And although quick and easy, I think it has the super cute, bright and fresh look that I love. I used two stamp sets, both by Tracey Hey at Alpaca Pals. The background is from the Beautiful Chaos set and the cute creatures are from the Domino set. 

You get a full set of dot stamps so that you can make the domino's any combination of numbers. How cool is that? I chose a four and a one and a four and a two for no particular reason but you could use the dots to signify a special birthday or anniversary.

Stay safe and well.

Nature Journal - part 14

Hello. I have another entry in my Nature Journal to share. This time it's a vintage collage page filled with gorgeous items from Petals and Papier. I discovered this Etsy shop whilst browsing through Instagram. I ordered the Vintage Ephemera Pack on Tuesday and it popped through the letter box yesterday! Super fast delivery. The contents of the box are exactly what I wanted and I can't wait to use it all in various journals and planners. 

 

Here are a just a few pics to give you a flavour of what was in the pack but if you are curious and want to see the full pack I filmed an unboxing here. 

You will see from the video how beautifully it was packaged, love all the little details and personal touches.

Pages and pages of vintage maps, illustrations, handmade and Japanese papers.

And a selection of tags, collectable cards, stamps, tickets and more.

Here's a closer look at my page....