Reach For The Stars

Good morning and happy Saturday. Today I'm over at Ink Art Designs and I'm sharing the rest of my 'Little Book of Secrets' that I made at a recent Tracy Easson class. I'm not saying how the book was made as it's a class that Tracy is still teaching. I will say that it was great fun and I can't wait to take another of her classes.

I know that you've seen the front cover already but I really like the covers lol.

I just love Matilda Bottoms, she's so cute!

And Morty is such a handsome chap, always with his head up to the sky.

This is page 3. I really enjoyed working with the fabrics, not something that I had ever done before.

This is the middle where we added some paper pages.

And the other side with some fabric clouds added. This is the very sweet Betsy Bottoms.

Lots of words on this page.

And I've added a Tim Holtz die cut to this one.

The lovely Matilda started the book so it seemed only fair that she should end it too.

And finally the back cover with a fabric badge that I made - I never thought that I would say that!

I hope that you've enjoyed your little tour of my book, and that you will also join me at the Ink Art Designs facebook group, and play along with our challenge over there. Just click on the link to be transported  https://www.facebook.com/groups/InkArtDesigns/

I'm entering my book into this months Mini Album Makers challenge. It's the first time that I've made a fabric album but it won't be the last. I enjoyed it so much and you end up with something to keep.

I'm also entering into this months Craft Stamper TIMI anything goes challenge. 

Have a very happy day, and thanks so much for looking x

Craftascope One Day Special - Your Journey Never Ends

Good morning and happy Sunday, I hope the weather is being kind to you. At the moment we are in Spain, so life is very good! 

The lovely Nick has had a Craftascope One Day Special over on Hochanda on Friday and Saturday with his 'Splinters In Time' collection, so people on facebook will have seen sneak peeks of my samples. I'll be blogging some on here too as this is my own personal record of my makes 'cos I really will have to start deleting some photo's from my phone.

First up is an A4 album.

This is a bit of an 'everything but the kitchen sink' cover. It's made from a Zutter A4 size chipboard cover, so it's taken all the paints and mediums perfectly. I've used lots of Decoart Media paints and texture paste here, together with Craftascope stencils. The man's face is from the Build a Man stamp set to which I've added some Day of the Dead features as the ODS ran into the 2nd November. The die cut leaves are from a set that Nick will be bringing to Hochanda on Monday, so be sure to watch. 

 I've kept the inside of the covers very simple - I've just used the Retro Rounds strip die on black and white card.

Page one has been made on hessian and uses the Eastern Delight and Fantasy Fields stencils, together with lots more DecoArt paint. The trees are from the Lush Landscapes sheet and have been stamped into UTEE. Although these are clear stamps you can treat them as rubber, so it's not a problem stamping into melted UTEE.

 This is another fabric page, together with lots of handmade papers. The brick wall is from the Splinters In Time sheet, and the scene is from 'Scenes In Time'

This page again has been made using lots of fabric and the Scenes in Time stamps.

And finally the back cover using stamps from the Build A Man and Helping Hands set. Both of the sentiments are from Lush Landscapes.

I'm entering my journal into this month's Mini Album Makers challenge, and the cover into the ongoing Dream In Darkness challenge. 

I hope you like it, I'll be back later in the month with some more of my samples. 

Have a very happy week, and thanks so much for looking x

A Very Challenging Challenge

Good morning and happy Saturday - welcome to the weekend! The wonderful Autumn of Sew Paper Paint has started a fab new blog devoted to mini albums. called the Mini Album Makers Challenge. 

This has always been something that I've admired, but never attempted - far too much measuring, and certainly no room for my wonky sticking! But the more I've looked, the more I've wanted to have a go - so I did!

There is no way that I could have done this without the help of the lovely Gloria Stengel of Scraps of Life. Her blog is full of amazing inspiration, including the full tutorial of the book I've made. She was so helpful and generous with her time in pointing me in the right direction - thank you so much Gloria. The only problem is she's dragged me back into the world of designer paper - like I don't have enough to set up my own shop already!

I have taken far too many pictures, so no more words lol

This is the front, with Tim Holtz and Fizzy Lemon dies.

The back with more TH dies.

And this is the spine.

This is the inside.The papers are by Prima. I must admit the tab mechanism was the hardest thing for me to make, but having done it once I think it would be easier next time.

One of the pages. I just followed Gloria's instructions. I've put a tag inside the pocket.

This is a flap for a photograph.

This is a pocket that holds another photo mat.

Another pocket and large tag.

And another...

And another...

Ok no more photos lol.

What I've learned is 

My old Fiskars trimmer is perfect for the scoring and I also used my old bone folder.

A good strong tape is essential - I've also used some wet glue in places.

And if/when I make another one I will make the outside match the inside! I'd already made the outside when I found my Prima pad and I just wanted to crack on.

All I need now are some photos. As anyone who knows me knows, I don't often have my photograph taken. My profile picture is at least 12 years old (and 3 stones lighter) But, I've decided that it's better to have some slightly naff older chunkier photos than none at all (don't hold your breath waiting for a new profile pic lol)

This was such fun to make, very calming once I'd got over the yikes I need to measure and cut straight stage.

A huge thanks again to Gloria, and thanks very much for looking x