Finished grungeboard duvet

Tile 1- TH dress form die and cogs and wheels, handmade little book, fimo swallow, crown and lock

Tile 2- TH itty bitty grunge stamp set stamped and UTEE'd, Lost Coast Design Stamp that I stamped onto crepe paper and shrink wrap

 

Tile 3- Handmade steampunk heart out of Fimo and other random bits. My new foxy stamp from Anne (thanks Anne!)

Tile 4- Embossed cog dies and a few other little handmade bits, great way to use up any old bits lying around

Stamped into UTEE and goldfingered after

Embossed cogs and guilded leaf added after then buffed down

Stamped into UTEE and add a shimmer while it was wet

Folded little book, with a string added to open and close. Stamped saying on the inside

Steampunk heart with clockwork pieces added in before baked

Paper quilt

I don't know what to call these! I'm 3/4 of the way finished this one and just love making them. I need some new stamps to complete the next one though I think *shoppinnnnng spree. Sorry for the bad photo, taken late at night and had to put it away. Trying to put it together is like a jigsaw as all the pieces are individual!

Altered tag

I made this as a birthday card and realised after I had it made that it said happy birthday no where on the tag...oh dear! TH bird decorated different I think she's really pretty even if her fimo crown doesn't fit her!

Quelle suprise!

Well I think I have finally overcome the struggle of scrapping for a boy, who wants pink and flowers anyways...*sob. I think it has challenged me creatively so every LO is very much a learning process

 It does help that Eli makes awesome expressions and I get loads of cute photo's of him (can you hear me toot toot the Mama horn?) but now I'm finished my course I have my own time back, even if that is at 11pm when everyone is in bed!

Writing on photo's in picasa (or photoshop before mine packed in) cuts out the need to journal and I love the effect of it, great for reminding me what age he is too!

New art joural

 D gave me a book he got with an xbox game and it was a little tri-fold "leather" bond book and I knew straight away it would be perfect for art journalling. All christmas I looked for ideas or tutorials on art journalling but have come to the conclusion that it's something you do yourself, no one can teach you or show you how, maybe just inspire you. I can see my style changing as I go and the pages getting heavier with layers and I just love it. Such a sense of pure inspiration when I finish each page and can't get the gesso off my hands for days after! *note to ones self to get gloves and a mat for my poor table

Mini christmas album

I recently bought a paper pack off Create with Kate and knew immediately I had to make a Christmas Album out of it. Using this tutorial off youtube from Follow the Papertrail here I made this in one afternoon, I'd say i could have done it quicker but I just barracaded myself on the corner piece of our couch and watched christmas movies all weekend. I hope D doesn't notice the sprinkle of glitter all over the couch now but it is Christmas after all!

So excuse the shakey handy work it's hard to pull out tags while trying to hold the book and the camera at the same time! My christmas mini album is all ready to go, all I have to do is add photos and some cracker charms :)

Santa Baby

I love this photo but the LO just doesn't seem to do it justice and I knew once I had stuck the title down it was all wrong and the silly thing wouldn't lift off. I made the christmas baubles hanging from the top out of a blob of glossy accents (this stuff should be sold in gallon cartons) and sprinkled fine glitter on it, with a drawn line in pen and glossy accents over it.

Tim Holtz's tags of christmas

I am playing sporadically at the minute because life is still hectic so whenever Master Fufu passes out I get the chance to play.

This is the lady version of TH one, I didn't have half the things so you just have to make do with what you have

This is my favourite, it's a sizzlix

 embossing die and I think he's just the cutest :)

From the clean to grungey

Just a few I managed to get done yesterday. Feeling something is missing from all my pages lately, I look at other pages and just think "That works", maybe if I got some real time to do it, it mightn't seem so rushed but I can't see that happening any time soon!

Happy Halloween

Happy Hallowe'n everyone :) Hope it's all in good fun and there's no goblins and ghouls around. Well there was just me and Emma dressed up as Day of the Dead women last night and I hope that's as scary as it will get! Altered Anne as I call her my very creative friend sent me a fabulous tag and it inspired me to make some halloween decorations. I used Tim Holtz paper and the skeletons were from the €2 shop. Bit of shimmer spray into glossy accents makes awesome blood, I had to stop myself from covering everything including Eli in it because it poured so beautifully, oozed you might say!

Have fun whatever you do :)

Sunday scrapping

Excuse the spelling typo's my hands are caked in gesso and won't wash off! 

I had been so safe with my scrapping lately and my hands were were itching to get dirty so I just went for it tonight. Eli's photo's of messy play he's had and some tasty crayons inspired me but so did this page, I'm a big fan!! http://madebymija.blogspot.com/

There is loads of texture on it that the camera didn't pick up, I gessoed a yellow piece of cardstock and then applied some pva and put book pages over it. Leave to dry for a few minutes then peel away the paper that didn't stick and even some that did for a transulcent print effect. 

I first did 1 lump, then another and realised they looked like boobs so had to add a third... you live and learn. I made then by scrunching a piece up and added glue to layer a circle over it, gesso and glued it down tight like I was making ravilloi. Really must get some modelling paste though, the one I have is very coarse and can do nothing with it so I just shoved ART into it!

PTI cards- Mehndi medallion and dotty

I've had my eye on this set since I saw it and using Stazon On in red and Vivid brown and gold I stamped it all over the card, cutting out a few and mounting them. The sentiments is from PTI as well and just mounted on red and foam dotted.

This is the Dotty stamp set, not too sure of the proper name and since this is the first time I sat down all day I'm not getting up to check! Sentiment is from an American crafts set I got in TkMax for €3 and such a great bargain because I use it all the time. Flower is stamped and cut out. 

All this was done in 10 minutes, I call it panic crafting as Eli watches Mickey Mouse I see what I can throw on paper!

Oh Dymo where have you been all my life?

I got one over the weekend and nothing is safe, I've labelled my glass, all my herb press, Eli... the list goes on. But what I really wanted it for was journalling.

Paper I used was some Emma shared out (Thanks Emma :) ) I think it was Echo Park, love the grunged faded colours of it. And for the Little Steps LO I used Tim Hotlz Pack, don't ask which one because it's very early but I know I am struggling to find use for it not like the other ones where I only have scraps of them left. I have a PTI order on the way wooooo and can't wait to get my hands on it because I need a scrap lift! But Just afraid my scrap closet won't take much more being squeezed into it!

Hold on Mama

Who knew a trip in a Tesco shopping trolley could be so terrifying? The grip he had on that trolley could have cracked walnuts! He loosened up a bit and then decided he was going to try to slide out the side of the trolley, this boy keeps me on my toes! 

Few layouts of Eli-who else

I just realised I have nearly 4 full albums of this boy before his first birthday, think I had better slow down a bit. Although my scrapping time has been cut to none lately it's still nice to get a few bits done even though they feel rushed and it was more about getting the photo onto the page.

I used Bo Bunny stack and can't remember for the life of me what it was called, love the bright colours of it and makes for easy scrapping because there's not much you can do with it being busy!

DIY baby tie t-shirt

I wanted something special and cool for Eli's birthday but because he is still in tiny clothes 0-3, 3-6 months at a push people obviously don't make cool clothes for tiny babies! So I bought a cheap top from Pennys for €3 for a pack of 2 and a pack of ties on special offer for €1. Took me about 15 minutes, 25 if you include the times I had to pick Eli up off the floor because he rolled off his mat and was giving out and I think if you can thread a needle anyone could do this!

I used the skinny end of a man's tie and measured it so it was just a bit longer than the top,DONT cut yet!

Fold a diagonal edge like in the photo, this is where you make sure the end of the tie is no longer than the top

 Fold the long piece back over to form the tie knot but it's not as bulky as normal

The last fold is the long piece back behind (I hope I am explaining this properly, if not the photos should help!) This is when you cut it, cut about half way across the back of the knot so there's no overlap on the left side (our left)

I then folded the top piece down into a V so there would be no over lap on the top of the tie. Now you can leave it like this and it's a very square 80's pencil thin tie but I prefer a bit a beef in my tie so follow onto the next step

Pinch the bottom piece of the knot together so it looks like this and sow the back bottom piece together like a corset (zig zag back and forth any way the needle goes in, no one will see it so don't worry about being tidy!) so the knot looks bigger on top

Add an embelishment, best to do it before you sow the tie on. You don't have to sow the rest of the tie on after the knot but knowing my fella he would probably shove it into the xbox or use it as a rope to escape his cot. Best to be safe rather than trying to explain to the A&E nurse why exactly you thought it was wise to dress your tiny baby in a tie.

One small problem...I never tried the top on before I made the tie and realised it's too big!  He seemed to think it was hilarious though so we have half our birthday suit now :)