Digital mags and my how-to's on your screen

You can now get the digital version of older Scrapbooking Memories with my step-by-step techniques for only $1.95. It can then be downloaded to your computer, tablet or smart phone to be read at your own leisure. 

 A new issue will be released every fortnight.

Find them here or paste this into your thingy on top:

 www.patchworkandcraft.com.au/digital-magazines.html. You can also click through at this address for a free preview of the magazine.

Cousins - making a background with letters

You can make some pretty cool backgrounds with just white cardstock, letters and Distress ink. 

I cut out letters on the Cricut machine, but you could use old stickers and cover them with gesso instead. 

 Would you like to try this technique? We're making that in class next week. We will also make this little cutie:

If you don't like denim, you can use coloured felt instead.

I ♥ you

Looking back to the 70ies, here is a funky colourful layout: 

And here is the inspiration behind it:

 It uses lots of small scraps and buttons...

...and some stitching too. 

♥♥♥

Vice captain

Over the Christmas break I have organised my many scraps. This time I have sorted them into colours, hopefully they'll be more accessible this way. Previously they were organised by brands, but I found my favourite brands' pockets were so full I was afraid to dig through them. So let's see how the colour way works out.

Since I had a nice full pocket of green scraps I decided to use them on a layout. The folding technique was inspired by a layout by Mel Connell that I saw in the latest Scrapbooking Memories mag. 

 Would you like to try something like that? Come and join me in class next week! I've stayed away from flowers, so it'll be suitable for men's photos too.

Hannah worked very hard on going for school council and she got picked for vice captain. We're so proud of her!

Smiles

Are you ready for a new scrapbook class project? We are making this fun page:

 This is my cute little nephew having a wonderful time flying a kite at the beach on Christmas Day. 

 It includes a few fun embellies, which we'll make, naturally: a banner, a heart with embossed words and a little arrow:

And everyone in class will get one of those pretty frames. 

So if you're ready to get your mojo back, join me in class next week!

Oh Christmas Tree

Can you believe it - this is my last class of the year! Next week we're doing a nice and easy project, so we have time for a Christmas party after class! 

 My photos aren't perfect, they were snapped with my i-phone (which I've been told is sooo outdated) and printed on my home printer (never my best choice), but who's got time for perfect photos at Christmas?! This time of the year is for enjoying the magic. 

...And fixing the deck...

 So out come the punches and dies!

  Don't like snowflakes in the Aussie Christmas heat? Too bad, cause here they are. I miss white Christmas. Seriously, you can replace them with stars if you really want. 

And here is my Christmas tree in all its glory:

Christmas chipboard blog hop

This is my project for the Scrapbook Creations blog hop. If you just happened to start here, find the beginning by clicking here.

I had some lovely chipboard from ScrapFX and I used the large swirl and the Christmas stars to make a cute little bird house.

I didn't want the bird house to be strictly Christmas cause my little cupboard that houses my Christmas treasures is full and this little gem might have to be on display all year long.

 The chipboard swirl was embossed with "shabby white embossing enamel" by Stampendous. This stuff is wonderful, it is basically chunky embossing powder with mica flakes and glitter already mixed in. Super easy to use.

 On the bottom of my house I used some of my great-grandmother's 100 year old lace (my Mum is cleaning out the cupboards and I'm getting the ribbons and laces!). The pearl strips finished off the edge. 

You can find the white magnolia here ($1.20 for 3)

These ScrapFX stars have a beautiful design on them already, which I didn't want to cover up, so they simply got a coat of white Distress Paint and some inking around the edges with pinecone ink.

That little bow is another piece of my 100 year old haul from Great-grandma.

I hope you like my little bird house. It went from this:

to this:

The stand is actually a candleholder that was given to us on our wedding, but hasn't been used much. It is quite lovely really, made from stone from the Ural Mountains (where we met), but it needed a new lease on life. I simply took off the round metal plate that holds the candle and glued the house on the spike. 

Now don't forget to leave me a comment and keep blog hopping for your chance to win the awesome prize above!
Your next stop is:
Elisabeth B

♥♥♥

Cheers, Geli

Be Merry

If you're anything like me and you love having lots of Christmas paper, you will love showing them off with this class project.

I used lots of my Christmas dies and the Punch-around-the-circle punch, a cute Christmas bird stamp and some bling.

Wild Angel with Filigree and a Doily

Here is how to make a

wild angel from a doily and one of these flower filigree borders. 

 Use strong scissors or tin snips to cut off the wings and 2 of the petals from the flower like this.

Take a 11cm doily and fold it in half ...

and then fold it into thirds like this.

 Draw a line along the edges with Glossy Accents and pour some Glass Glitter over it. You can find several colours of Glass Glitter in the glitter and microbeads section.

Now glue the wings, the flower petals ("hands") and a circle pendant on the folded doily like this.

 Make some wild hair by winding some wool strands around 3 fingers 4 times (or more, depending on the wool). Tie the middle with some thread and cut open the sides. 

 Glue it on the head, draw on a face with permanent marker - if you want - and your wild angel is done.

 You can use her on a card, or as a tree decoration (tie a ribbon through the loop on the circle pendant). 

Here I have made a card using a piece of kraft card, a bit of lace and some gold baker's twine. 

GELI

Merry Magic

It's almost December and here is our first Christmas class project!

  I wanted to give this page one an old-fashioned look by sticking to papers and embellishments in neutrals, gold and bronze. The red background adds just enough colour so it doesn't look washed out.

The white rose can be found here and the golden flowers here.

A bright green and pink wooden bird from Art Stamps Australia got a makeover to match the colour scheme: 

Would you like to make your own Christmas layout? Why not join me in class. Everything you need to make the bird is included, by the way.

♥

Classes run:

Tue 10am

Thu 6pm

Fri 9:30am

♥

Geli

Krafty Christmas ideas and how to emboss with a charm

Feeling a bit krafty this season? Here are a few ideas how to make a card, tag and gift wrap with kraft paper, doilies and some lovely embellishments from my2angels. 

Tracy sent me the new deer charm in antique bronze (also available in shiny gold!) and it is so lovely, I couldn't bear to use it only once. So I embossed a tag with it first! (I know you can't really see it on the above photo, but bear with me and all will be revealed)

The deer is 6cm tall, so a pretty decent size and chunky enough to go through my Cuttlebug without bending or breaking.

Take a piece of kraft cardstock (3x6"), lightly wet it and make the following "sandwich":

 A plate, silicon mat, cardstock (moist), charm, silicon mat, C plate. 

The sandwich could vary a little if you have a Bigshot or other machine. Just experiment.

Here is what it looks like after embossing: 

 All the details are nice and crisp, but it's stubtle enough to suit the gringiest of your friends.

Punch a pretty bottom border with a border punch. Spray glue a small doily on the tag (half on the front, half on the back) and cut off the top corners:

 Die cut a roundish shape (star, flower, etc) from a brown patterned paper, ink it with pinecone ink (which is the best brown ink in the world and matches everything!) and glue it on top of the doily. Fold it over and trim the corners.  

 Punch a hole and stick on one of those reinforcer thingies: 

 Tie a Christmas tree and bell charm on some red & white baker's twine and ink around the whole tag with the above mentioned pinecone ink and stamp a greeting:

 Done! 

If you make a bit of a production line, you can whip up a whole pile of these in no time. 1 piece of 12x12" cardstock will make 8 tags.

Now that you've embossed a million deer on tags it's time to stick that pretty deer charm down on a card!

Take a kraft card and emboss it with an embossing folder. 

The card packs from my2angels are a really good deal at 10 for $1.40, but I loved mine so much they're all used up. I used a 4x11" piece of kraft cardstock instead. 

Spray glue a doily on and layer 2 ribbons across the cards: 

brown organza scallop ribbon 

cotton lace

 Die cut a hexagon or other roundish shape from a brown patterned paper, ink the edges and attach two short lengths of antique bronze chain with 2 lobster clasps. 

 If your die cut shape doesn't have holes, punch 2 first. Glue the paper and chain down using Glossy Accents. 

 Add some dots with Liquid Pearls in platinum: 

Glue down the deer charm and you're done! 

For 10 cards you will need:

- 1 kraft card pack 

-10 doilies (11cm)

- 1x brown organza ribbon 

- 2x cotton lace 

- 1 antique bronze chain 

- 4x lobster clasps 

- 5x deer charms 

- some leftover brown patterned paper from your stash. 

Presuming you already have an embossing folder, ink, Liquid Pearls and Glossy Accents, that's just a little over $1.80 per card.

If you haven't run out of puff by now, you might want to wrap some pressies next: 

Wrap your gift in kraft wrapping paper (from the cheap shop) and spray glue a doily over the top edge (size will depend on the size of your present).

  Cut out 3 stars and fold them as shown in my button & stars wreath post (I had some left from the wreath). 

Wrap some red & white baker's twine around the present twice, tie on a candy cane charm and finish it with a bow. 

Glue down the stars like shown in the wreath post and stamp or handwrite the name.  Done! 

This looks great for a pile of presents. I would show you, but they are on the ship as we speak; slowly, slowly making their way round the world to my family (thanks Australia Post for exorbitant airmail prices!). Christmas in January is also nice, right?

PS:

Someone asked if you can use the embossing technique on wooden embellishments, like the one Kaisercraft sells. No! I think they will most likely crack in the Cuttlebug. You will need a chunky, thick metal charm and I can't think of a better one than that deer. So come on, pop over to the shop and get a couple.