Monday, November 17, 2008

Christmas with a pink twist with New Pink Paislee Tinsel Town!

The gorgeous new Christmas papers, Making Memories Fa La La and Pink Paislee's Tinsel Town have finally arrived!

I just couldn't resist the Pink Paislee and had to play straight away!

This is what I came up with ... two cards and a 4" x 4" Paw-pear Basics Mini Book:

To make the "Believe" card:



Materials used:

A 13.5mm x 13.5mm cream card blank
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town papers (5th Avenue, 34th Street and Nutcracker)
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town Press Ons
Co-ordinating Bazzill Cardstock (Pickle & Sugar Cookie)
Pink Paislee Fashion Script Black Alphabet Stickers
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town Ribbon Set

1. Cut a 13mm x 13mm piece of Bazzill Pickle Cardstock.
2. Cut a 13mm x 9mm strip of 34th Street paper and stick it across the centre of the Pickle cardstock.
3. Cut a 13mm x 7mm strip of 5th Avenue paper and stick it across the centre of the 34th Street paper.
4. (Optional) Using a sewing machine, stitch all around the edge of the cardstock/patterned paper square with cream thread.
5. Trim away any loose threads.
6. Using double sided sticky tape, stick the stitched square onto the card base.
7. Cut a 6.5mm x 6.5mm square of Bazzill Sugar Cookie cardstock.
8. Cut a 6mm x 6mm square of Nutcracker paper and centre and stick it onto the cream card.
9. (Optional) Using a sewing machine, stitch all around the edge of the cardstock/patterned paper square with cream thread.
10. Stick a 13mm length of Pink Paislee ribbon (I used the one with the printed trees) across the centre of your card.
11. Stick the 6mm square centred on top of the ribbon.
12. Rub two snowflakes onto the card as shown from the Pink Paislee Tinsel Town Press Ons.
13. Spell out a word of your choice with Pink Paislee Fashion Script Alphabet Stickers as shown.

To make the "Merry Christmas" card:



Materials used:

13.5mm x 13.5mm cream card blank.
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town papers (34th Street, 5th Avenue and Nutcracker)
Bazzill Cardstock - Pickle and Sugar Cookie
Coredinations Cardstock - Fuschia Fizz
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town Press Ons


1. Cut a 13mm x 13mm piece of Coredinations Fuschia Fizz cardstock, centre it and stick it onto the card blank. Sand the edges of it with a piece of sandpaper to expose the lighter coloured core.
2. Cut a 2.5mm x 13mm piece of Pickle cardstock - but don't stick it onto the card just yet!
3. Cut a 1.5mm x 13mm strip of 5th Avenue paper and stick it centred onto the Pickle cardstock.
4. Cut a .75mm x 13mm strip of 34th Street paper and stick it centred onto the 5th Avenue paper. Leave the whole assembled piece to one side.
5. Using a small piece of Sugar Cookie cardstock and a craft knife, cut a curvy line to look like a hill top as shown.
6. Cut the "Merry Christmas" Press On from the sheet and rub it down onto the bottom right hand corner of the Fuschia Fizz cardstock.
7. Now take the assembled piece that you put aside and stick it about 2.5mm from the bottom of the Fuschia Fizz card (just above the Merry Christmas rubon) with the cream curved piece stuck behind it.
8. Cut out the green tree Press On from the sheet. Leaving the backing paper attached, use it as template to cut a similar, slightly bigger tree shape from the Nutcracker paper. Don't worry about being too exact, they're supposed to be a little wobbly!
9. Using a black felt tip pen, draw a black outline around the cut out tree.
10. Stick the cut out tree on the top of the hill you made from your cream cardstock and rub down the green tree Press On beside it as shown.

To make the 4" x 4" mini book:



Materials used:

4" x 4" Paw-Pear Basics Mini Book (if you can't get this brand, use 7Gypsies or Maya Road).
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town papers (5th Avenue, Postcards and A Christmas Carol)
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town Ribbon Set
Pink Paislee Tinsel Town Press Ons
Bazzill Basics Sugar Cookie Cardstock

1. Carefully remove the binding from the Mini Book taking great care not to bend it too much as it won't look right when you put it back on.
2. Cover the front cover and back cover OUTSIDES ONLY with 5th Avenue paper. Trim the edges and sand with a piece of sandpaper.
3. Using the A Christmas Carol paper, cover the front cover and back cover INSIDES with paper. Again, trim the edges and sand with a piece of sandpaper.
4. Using a scalloped edge scissors, trim the oval shaped "my holiday wish" from the Pink Paislee Postcards paper as shown.
5. Stick the cut out piece onto Bazzill Sugar Cookie cardstock and, leaving a .5mm border, follow the oval shape and cut with a scalloped edge scissors.
6. Rebind the Mini Book. I didn't use the Bind it all to rebind as it's too difficult to match up the binding holes. I simply trimmed around the holes with a craft knife and reinserted the binding strip carefully by hand.
7. Cut a black bird from the Press On sheet and rub it down onto the oval piece so that the birds claws are resting on the word "my".
8. Using the cream velvet elasticated ribbon from the Ribbon Set, tie a piece just above the 2nd binding ring and around the front cover of the book, finishing it off by making a bow.
9. Stick the oval cardstock/patterned paper piece onto the front cover of the Mini Book, just above the ribbon, using foam pads to give it dimension.
10. Tie two pieces of assorted ribbon to the top two binding rings and you're done.

I hope you enjoyed these projects. I'll be sending the cards to two special people and I'll be using the mini book to record the run up to Christmas and all of the things I did to prepare for Santa's arrival, especially all the things my kids are wishing for!

Friday, November 14, 2008

Free Halloween Project Ideas!

I finally got a chance to play with the gorgeous new Cosmo Cricket Haunted Collection papers and various rubons, stickers and chipboard in the range.

It is absolutely scrummy and really easy to work with. The papers are heavyweight and double sided and can be sanded, inked or distressed.


For the 12" x 12" layout I used:
Bazzill Cardstock, Cosmo Cricket Haunted papers, rubons, blackboard, stickers with a few other odds and ends I had in my stash.



For the Mini Book I used:
Cosmo Cricket Haunted papers, rubons, blackboard, stickers, Pink Paislee alphabet stickers and a Ranger White Pen.

I've put together an instruction sheet for both projects and it's free when you order two products from the range.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

A brilliant Halloween MegaScrap Weekend!

Phew, well we've finally recovered from the fantastic weekend that was the Halloween MegaScrap!  I could have slept for the whole week LOL!

Donna and Anita who were teaching at the event arrived last Thursday in plenty of time to get themselves ready for their Workshops on Saturday.  Donna even managed to sample a Guinness, having had her first taste of it during her last trip here to teach at the MidSummer MegaScrap in June.

Halloween  Megascrap Donna and her guinness copy

On Friday we took her to the Knitting & Stitching Show in the RDS in Dublin ... not a patch on CHA I'm sure ... but she thoroughly enjoyed it.

On Saturday, everyone had an early start and we headed out to the CityNorth Hotel in County Meath to prepare for the day.  We were in the Somerville Suite and it looked fab with all the tables set out and the beautiful chandelier as the centrepiece of the room.

IMG_3790

Halloween  Megascrap 087 big room

Donna opened the event with her Paint.Watercolor.Doodle Workshop which had a definite WOW factor!  During the next three hours she took everyone through some fantastic techniques using chipboard, acrylic paint and the gorgeous Caran D'Ache Neocolor II Watersoluble Crayons.

2008 11 01_1950_edited-1

After a lovely lunch, we were back in the Workshop room for Anita Mundt's, Washday Layout Class. 

Halloween  Megascrap anita

Anita tested everyone's creative skills by introducing crochet to the class and everyone had a go, although some people (Eva??) didn't quite take to it!!

IMG_3752

After a tea and coffee stop everyone was back in their seats for another of Donna's technique filled classes, "100 Eyelets or die trying".  Chipboard, paint and eyelets, eyelets, eyelets were all used to turn a  4" x 4" Maya Road binder book into a gorgeous black & red mini album.

IMG_3791

We soon found out what the "die trying" part of the Workshop was as Donna challenged everyone to "set those eyelets".  Jillian was the first one to finish 100 eyelets and won one of Donna's gorgeous aprons for her efforts.  Well done Jillian!

After another pit stop, everyone finally got a chance to sit back and put their Crop-a-Dile's down while they watched Anita's fantastic and informative Photography Workshop.  Anita did a brilliant job of taking us through the various angles we could use to improve our photography and backed it up with a Powerpoint presentation packed with examples from her own photo gallery.  She is such a talented photographer!

The whole day just flew by and before we knew it we had to pack up and head for home.  Before we went there we had a prize giving ceremony and well done to everyone who won. 

Well done Julie Frog for winning our MegaScrap Challenge with her gorgeous layout.

Halloween  Megascrap winner LO Julie F

Thanks to A-Pak/Herma who were extremely generous as always by sponsoring four gorgeous gift baskets packed with Herma goodies (wrapped by Hilda!) as well as loads of adhesive sheets for everyone to use in  their classes. 

Halloween  Megascrap herma Ann Halloween  Megascrap Noelle Herma winner

Thanks also to The Crafteire Shop, Art 'n' Hobby

Halloween  Megascrap art n hobby voucher Isabel Kerr

Inspiring Ideas

Halloween  Megascrap winner Marlen O Mahony

ScrapbookMate

Halloween  Megascrap winner scrapbookmate

and Treasure Bin for sponsoring some lovely prizes.

We held a separate raffle for a Donna Downey original canvas (kindly donated by the lady herself) with the proceeds going to Temple Street Hospital.  Congrats to Lorna for winning this brill prize!

Halloween  Megascrap 160 the canvas

Finally, thanks to everyone who attended the event and made it such a success.  Again, thanks to our prize sponsors and to all of the retailers who came along and provided some retail therapy, Linda from KellyPaperCrafts, Mireille from The Crafteire Shop and Sheena from Creative Expressions.

Sadly the event took its toll on Annamarie & Elaine, the event organisers and by the end of the day they looked wrecked! LOL!!

2008 11 01_1955_edited-1 2008 11 01_1954_edited-2

Looking forward to seeing you all again at our next event!  Roll on MegaScrap 2009!