Loved this day - using masks

Are you ready for some stencil inspiration? We're using lots of them in class next week! 

I have scrapped these photos before, for the Scrapbooking Memories blog hop, but I gave that frame to one of the boys for Christmas, so here's one for my album.

The tags were inspired by Natalie Kalbach's Creative Jumpstart. Thanks, Natalie. They're made with texture paste, glimmer mist and stamping. 

 And the photo mat is actually a big pocket (inspired by Gilly's Christmas card. It holds 2 tags or more photos, whatever you'd like. 

The paper is a Kaisercraft preview of an upcoming collection, "75cents". I love it.

Create an album with me - part 10

This is my last page for my Russian album and it's ready to be mailed off. There are lots of photos left, but they will go on a CD in a pocket at the end. 

This last page has a hidden photo, which is a great technique for private photos, or like in my case, really goofy ones. Simply pull on the tag...

  ...and another photo swings out:

This sort of photo happens when you wait around at a tiny deserted train station in the Urals....

First, you will need 2 photos in the same size and direction. Create a mat under the main photo to give your secret photo a place to hide. Mine is 3 1/2 x 9" and the flower strip is 1 1/4 x 12". I just used some of the leftover papers. 

 The 2 photos are attached at the top right corner (main photo) and the bottom right corner (hidden photo). Here is how it will look from the back.

 Put a strip of sticky tape along one side of the main photo, close to the edge and line up the hidden photo so it butts up against it. This will stop it from swinging out too far. 

Punch a hole through both photos for a brad. The brad needs to be fairly loose for maximum swinging action, so put 2 layers of scrap cardstock under the legs when you open them up and then remove the cardstock:

 Add a tag and you're ready to swing!

(I later sprayed the patterned paper with some white mist to tone down the colours a little)

 Now on to the background. This masking technique will work with any stamps you want to layer in different colours. First stamp a few random tags. Stamp 2 more on a post it note and cut them out carefully, just outside the edge. They will be your masks. 

 Stick them over 2 of the tags on the background... 

... and stamp over it with a background stamp in a contrasting colour. There are many wonderful background stamps to be found in the stamps section at my2angels and these distress inks work great for nice crisp images. 

 Peel the masks off and repeat all around the edge of the cardstock. 

Now you can add your photo mat, but be careful not to glue down the main photo on any part where the hidden photo needs to swing out from. In my case it meant leaving most of the left half of the photo and the mat glue-less. 

Now embellish with some leftover stickers, a guitar charm... 

 ... make some flags with leftover papers and some baker's twine... 

...and add a couple of star flowers. These ones have some pearlized mica fragments in the middle. 

Quick and easy. Why not give it a try sometime?

If you have missed the other 9 pages, here are the links:

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

part 6

part 7

part 8

part 9

Explore

I finally got my boy layout done for my2angel's boy month:

 I had another play with Crafter's Workshop templates. They look really cool when you go over it with Rangers Distress inks and a blending tool. 

 Even the negative of a chipboard was converted into a mask. I used texture paste and because I was at a crop at Anne's house, it was a different brand of texture paste that turned see-through by the next day. I am intrigued... Will have to find out the brand.

I did the sewing with washi tape, cause I had forgotten to bring some ribbon. It's pretty cool, I think.

 This rosette die has got to be one of the most versatile tools in my stash. It's great for boys and girls and by trimming the cut-out strip skinnier you can make smaller rosettes. This one has a coin charm in the middle with a bit of Glossy Accents.

 Dangle a cowboy hat and a hammer with the help of a mobile phone cord and the explorer has everything he needs!

 Well, maybe throw in a balloon and a film strip, for good measure. These rhinestones are so much cheaper than the sticky ones and they stick a treat with Glossy Accents.

Cheers!

Create an album with me pt6 - Babushki

 Welcome to my 6th page of Heidi's album! As before, I am using the This & That collection and you can follow all the links to my2angels for all the products I used.

Believe it or not, I started with the sketch from the my2angels blog:

Okay, so it's a little hard to recognise on my layout, but that's the beauty of a sketch, you can change things to suit you. Give it a go, you can win an awesome prize! You have till the end of July.

Yes, you can make an entire album from the collection, plus a bit of cardstock. I used mostly white cardstock for all the background and it's nice to snazz them up a little. Spraying over a template with glimmer mist is a good way and you get all the negative bits coloured. BUT what if you want it the other way around? Here is how:

Spray the template with yellow daisy glimmer mist in an old pizza box (I covered parts of the mask with some spare paper cause I didn't want the whole size), then turn the template over and place it on the cardstock. 

 Careful, you don't get a second go! Press down a little and you get this:

 It gives an interesting, uneven look.

Next, cut out some flowers from one of the patterned papers and glue them along the left side. (For now, don't glue the bottom ones on)

 

 Glue 2 photos together and attach them with tape, but leave the top open. They'll become pockets for the journalling.

To reinforce them a bit, sew along those edges:

Make a thin border and 2 flags from some of the border strips of the patterned paper and glue them under the photos. Bit more sewing? Sure.

 

 I added a sweet little gift charm and a love charm (I cut off the loop with pliers)

Remember on page 2 I had 3 petals of the giant mulberry flower left over? It was already sprayed with yellow glimmer mist and sewn with baker's twine from my previous project. Yup, I can't throw anything away... Well, here it is, tugged under some more flowers.

And here are a few more embellies:

a cute little mushroom charm and some Liquid Pearls (a super saving alternative to stick on pearls) on a swirl from the sticker sheet:

...a mulberry butterfly, again sprayed with with 2 colours of glimmer mist, and a felt heart. You can sew it on or (if you already packed up the sewing machine, like me) staple it down and hide the staple with a pearl. Too easy. 

 Punch a hole in each of the large flowers and put a few stamens in each one. Oh look, another glimmer misted mulberry butterfly, this time green! And a star flower...

 Another thing I love is the baker's twine: just tie a bow and pop it on, perfect for a bit of dimension in small bites.

 Lastly, here are the journalling cards (I haven't written anything yet), they go in the pockets under the photos.

I'll be back next week with the next page. If you have missed the other pages, here are the links: 

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

Cheers, bloggerinos!

Create an album with me - pt 5 Clowns

Welcome to page 5 of my album for Heidi, still using the This & That collection. The links to the other 4 pages are on the bottom of this post.

There was  a time when I wasn't afraid to walk down the street looking like a clown. Yup, that's me in the middle and we were getting ready for a kindy puppet show.

You can find nearly all materials I used at my2angels, just follow the links. 

Pssst: I scraplifted my long walk layout for this page, with a few changes (why re-invent the wheel?)

First, I cut a black cardstock down to 11x11".

I love the Crafter's Workshop templates, they look awesome with glimmer mist, but this time I used it as a stencil with texture paste. Texture paste looks like cake icing (a bit stinky though) and you can colour it with acrylic paint. Whatever texture you give it, this is how it dries. 

I spread it over the cherry blossom template with a butter knife, like this:

 I did this in 3 areas, but each area will need to dry before you go on, so it doesn't smudge. There were a couple of smudges on mine, but you can carefully scrape them off before it dries. Put it in the sunshine or wave a heat gun over it to speed up the drying time. Be careful, too much heat-gunning will make it bubble.

Then I stamped and embossed a few journalling tags to pull the branches together. If you use a lighter background you could skip the embossing.

 One of the papers has a row of circles on it and because I am lazy, I cut them out with the trusty ol' Cuttlebug.

 Then I matted the black cardstock on a red one to get a nice frame and glued the circles over the bottom seam. I also added a title and sewed all around it.

  

 If you use foam Thickers, you can sew right through them:

 The collection comes with a cover page, which isn't really scrap paper quality, but has some fun stripes on it. Waste not, want not - I cut 2 strips (2" and 2 1/2" wide) off and cut the strips into 2" bits.

 I rolled them over a bamboo scewer with a bit of double sided tape (but leave the start of the paper unsticky, so it doesn't stick to the bamboo). 

That will give you 10-12 rolls. If you use thicker paper, the rolls will be wider and you won't need as many. 

 I glued them under the photo and added another cut-out photo to the top:

Then I took a 12" piece of velvet ribbon and sewed a running stitch in a zig-zag line along the whole length (skip a little at the beginning and end). 

 Once the thread tight is pulled tight it makes some pretty ruffles and that gets glued on top of the rolls:

 I coloured 2 white star flowers with glimmer mist and glued a cabochon on top (there are different styles available)

 I like these movie-inspired ones.

 All the little flowers got a rhinestone centre (the easiest way to glue them on is with a dot of Glossy Accents).

 Then I added 2 friends charms. One got a twine bow...

 ...and the other one became part of the journalling:

And that's the whole page! I hope you find some inspiration here.

I'll be back next week with the next page. If you have missed the other pages, here are the links: 

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

Cheers, bloggerinos!