Creative Inspiration

I cannot believe I last blogged in June!!  It sure doesn't feel like that long thats for sure!, so if you're still hanging in there, you've done well or been very patient ;)

Its been quite weird not working for BoBunny - Ive missed those boxes of goodies arriving in the mail, and the girls that made our team.  Its been a bit weird and yet fun trying out new stuff or just things in my stash that I had purchased with an idea in mind but not got around to doing.

This project was one of those things ;)  I found the chipboard word at Warehouse Stationary I think.  At the time I already had one so I thought it would make a good gift, only its taken til now for me to decorate it.

For inspiration I used the colour challenge at Prima, which was shades of purples, and gold - using sprays, and mica powders to give me the colours I wanted.

I started off random stamping through the middle of the word before deciding on where to place embellishments and some of those way cool Prima stones.  I also used gold and bronze micro beads.  The stamps I chose was an old Prima script stamp and the new Rossibelle stamps.

Hopefully the recipient will find some Creative Inspiration from it ;)
See you soon!

Happy Birthday Shirley :) - BoBunny DT

The one thing thats great about winter is sitting scrapping by the fire :)  Todays no exception, its freezing out.  Although sometimes its hard to drag myself out of a good book, as I camp out by the fire!

One of those crafty sessions lately produced this little collection.  I used the Firecracker collection to make my card and decorate my gifts.

So first up the gift bag.  Just an altered paper bag.  Ive dry brushed gesso over the base, and then layered different pieces from the collection together for my cluster.  The best thing I love about the different collections is that I can use buttons from various collections to match any paper theme!  I think I used three different ones for this set of gifts :)

A couple of close ups shows you all the cluster goodness from handmade paper flowers, BoBunny blossoms, jewels and buttons.

Some white gift wrap covered my gift and a paper bow from three different papers created the bow, finished with a blossom and brad in the centre :)

A matching card finished the set off, using a raft of different embellishments :)  more buttons, more brads and more blossoms!

Ive tucked some distressed muslin into my cluster and added extra detail with random stamping and yummy Lemonade glitter paste :)

So Happy Birthday Shirley, I know you had a lovely day and got spoiled rotten :) like any birthday girl deserves! :)  <3

See you next time :)

Butterfly Kisses - BoBunny DT

Sometimes a collection comes around that just grabs your attention, and Buttefly Kisses did that for me, I just love it!

A friend of mine had a birthday coming up and Forbes and I chose a voucher from Hanmer Springs for her to enjoy a little relaxation.  The idea was that I was going to roll up the voucher and tie it with a ribbon,  and pop it in the box.  Course the voucher arrived and it was too wide, argh!!!

 BoBunny have a new crackle paste that is just the bomb!!  This is my second time using it and I  haven't a failed yet.  Really simple to use and doesn't take long to dry and crackle as it goes.  This box was just bare wood, I didn't even have to gesso it first.  The primer went on first, then the crackle paste and I ended up with a lovely white crackled box.  I wanted it to match the paper I was using on the card so I painted it with Island Mist Pearlescents.

I inked all the edges black and then randomly stamped over it with my favourite stamp, It is Written.  The stamp under the metal handle is part of the Romance set.

I wanted to use the Elegant border die as a bow but found that a whole double bow made from the die was too much, so I made a plain white bow first and then looped my dies together for the 'double' layer.

The card was the easy part ;) I just used all the scraps from the same piece of paper as I used for the bow on the box.  Fussy cut some elements from the papers, added some tags and blossoms and a little mixed media in the background using gesso and silver glitter paste.

This week also brings the announcement of the first group of finalists for the new 2016 BoBunny DT on May 26th.  I thought long and hard, and chewed the ear off a lovely friend about whether I should reapply.  In the end I decided not to.  I have had three amazingly special years with BoBunny that I will never forget, they have truly been an amazing team to work for and the team of girls I designed with were a fabulous team of ladies.  We all had our highs and lows in our personal lives and the support from them never wavered.  I will really miss being on this team; I had my dream come true, and now its time for someone else's dream to take shape.  So to those of you that applied, GOOD LUCK :)  for those that don't make it this time, never stop trying, you never know when that dream will come true <3  and for all of you who have been so encouraging over this time, THANKYOU!  it meant a lot! <3

See you soon :)

Becky Higgins, Page Maps and BoBunny :)

A match made in heaven!  Well thats what I thought when we were asked to volunteer for an extra project :)  Each of us were sent a sketch to play with using which ever new collection we chose.  I chose Toybox :)

This was the sketch I was sent by Becky :)

Ive tried to remain true to the sketch.  Instead of a patchwork look with several photos that the sketch has I used the pocket squares  from the paper, and layered that on to a further piece of paper and then cardstock.  It gives the same impression, while only using one photo.

This little fellow is growing up fast, way too fast :( but this was at 2yrs old and completely unaware I was taking the photo.  As opposed to now when he is quite adamant he doesn't want his photo taken lol

I love this new star die from BoBunny - I have cut it out twice and layered them on top of each other but slightly off centre.  The bonus is all the loose stars from the negatives of the die cut, they make great little embellishments :)

Layering stickers with brads along and the side, and fussy cutting crayons, lifting them up with chipboard gave the whole layout depth and finished it off perfectly.  A little faux stitching along the edge of both squares tied it all together.

Thanks for popping by, see you next time!

Happy Anniversary - BoBunny DT

Easter is tomorrow?!  Where on earth is this year going?  Its flying by!  And as usual Im a bit late, but not for a birthday.  This time its an anniversary, not mine but a friend.  One of those friends you don't get to see often, but when you do its like you just saw them yesterday and just carry on where you left :)  I love those types of friendship :)

February is her wedding anniversary and I swiped this photo of them off Facebook ;)  Love the picture and it tied in perfectly with Beautiful Dreamer.

Most of the work is done for you with this piece of paper, which is a bonus!  Ive added to the background with random stamping with two different stamp sets and a stencil, and the new Rose Gold Glitter Paste - this colour is stunning!!!

The number was fussy cut from one of the papers in this collection and popped up on some chipboard and inked around the edges.

To finish it off I've used stickers and brads - I love how this layout came together!

I also had a play with the scraps from this layout and made a collage using an old wooden frame I had lying round.

Ive used the same stencil in the background, and then adhered one of the layered chipboard pieces.  More fussy cutting and layering of stickers, brads and buttons finished it all off.

The other project I completed this month for BoBunny was a canvas using the lovely bright Believe Collection.  You can see that on the BB Blog here.  In the meantime heres a wee sneak of it ;)

Thanks for popping by :)

Up Up & Away! - BoBunny DT

One of BoBunny's new collections is Dreamer and typically my first thought was to go OTP.  I find them so easy compared to layouts, and never seem to run out of ideas for them.
The inspiration for this came from a fellow DT member, Tracee Provis who also does amazing OTP.  She made a beautiful hot air balloon using Primrose - you can see that here.  Isn't stunning?!

This little beauty I found at Spotlight and it comes as, well I guess you'd call it paper mache.  I picked out which colours I wanted to use from the paper collection; made a template of one of the sections and cut them out, distressing all the edges.

One of the other new products BoBunny have brought out is the Ornate Doily Dies, and Ived used those to create the banner around the balloon.  There are three in the set and Ive used all three in this project.

Birds have been fussy cut from some of the papers and Ive curled these to make them look more life like and adhered them with foam dots.  Buttons, twine and seam binding ribbon tied all those banners to  each other.

This is the top of the balloon.  You can see the smallest of the Doily dies here with a button over the top - which covers up the joining of all those layers perfectly ;)

I kept the basket simple, just adding seam binding ribbon and brads to each point where the basket was connected to the balloon.
Isn't it the coolest thing?!  I love it :)

I was on a bit of an OTP roll at the time I made this, and over at BoBunny you can see an altered diary using the new decoupage papers and clear stickers. You can find it here but in the meantime heres a sneak peak.

Thanks for popping by, see you next time!

A Toy Box Keepsake - BoBunny DT

When my Great Nephew was born three years ago, I made a keepsake box with some Fancy Pants papers, to keep all his newborn memories in.  Things like his hospital bracelet, first outfit etc etc.  Well, Im going to be a Great Aunt all over again in a couple of months to another little boy :) :)

I found the box at The Warehouse, and its quite big taking just under a 12 x12 piece of patterned paper for each side.  I like how this range gives you the option of going super bright and fun or muted and shy.  For this one, I went bright and fun :)

I cut all the blocks from a sheet a of paper layering them so that they flow around the side as well, and added some noteworthy and chipboard elements for dimension.  All the sides were inked in black ink.

The card is made from the scraps left over from making those cute wee booties!  They're a die from Joy Crafts.  And the box packaging on top finishes it all off :)

Over on the BoBunny blog today I have a 3 step layout tutorial using the gorgeous new Soiree Collection.  Heres a sneak for you :) but you can see the whole thing here.

Til next time………………...

Calendar Girl Birthday Book - BoBunny DT

Another year has begun, and yet again its going fast - can't believe its nearly the middle of January already!  This year I want to be a bit more organised!!  and thats where this idea sprang from.

Im notoriously late with birthday presents.  Terrible.  So bad in fact that I've been a month late before :( I have the ideas for gifts its just that I can't seem to get myself organised in advance enough to get them sent.  So this year I aim to be different.  With the help of this wee book :)

At the end of last year - sounds so long ago eh? lol.  - BoBunny released the Calendar Girl collection.  When I looked at it I thought it had so many options, not just for its original purpose which was planners. Project life also sprang to mind.  But I also thought of my birthday book.  Each month has a blank calendar so perfect to use in any form.

So where to start?  I made the pages first, layering them on white cardstock.  Punched some holes and created an embossed line to imitate the look of a fold.  Each calendar was then inked along the edges in a corresponding colour.

On the reverse I layered white cardstock.  For each piece I inked the edges in the same colour ink I had used for each calendar page.  So January is blue, so I used blue ink etc.  I can then write the names and dates of each person on back and any other information I wanted.  I used a selection of noteworthy, and  buttons from various collections to embellish them.

To identify each persons birthday I used the stars from the Cascade Stickable Stencils with either pearlescents or glitter paste, depending on which colour I wanted.

For dates that were all about Forbes and I, gold glitter paste was used with hearts from the same stencil set.  May 24th was the day we got engaged :)

To create the cover I used black thick chipboard and covered it with patterned paper - its was about 6x6" so the paper pads were perfect for coverage.  I layered on top some Journalling cards from the collection and then roughly painted on gesso, followed by pearlescents.  Once it was dry I used a baby wipe to remove some, going for a roughed up look.  Random painting using Mint glimmer spray and then random stamping, finished the background off.
Further layers are created by using a laser cut chipboard phrase, stickers, noteworthy and muslin.  The butterflies were fussy cut from the Primrose collection.  Two layers of washi went along the bottom, and it was finished.

Easy peasy!  And now it sits on my desk so theres no forgetting!!
See you next time :)