December Mood Board at Jot Magazine

There's nothing better than Christmas crafting right? And the idea of a December journal of some kind (call it what you like!) is really appealing. When I saw the new Mood Board Challenge at Jot Magazine it became just the push I needed to decorate the front cover of my December not-quite-a-Daily notebook. Here's how it turned out....

As you can see, I took my inspiration mainly from the image in the top left. In fact, the notebook itself actually started off white, but I covered it in brown paper (just like those packages) and made sure I included a bit of string for good measure.

I mixed and matched some of my holiday-themed Sizzix dies to create the iconic car carrying a Christmas tree. I added a bit of an Aussie spin on things by using the Coastal Off Road die for my car. This is from one of the sets that Sizzix Lifestyle have released exclusively to the Australian and New Zealand market through Spotlight and they all feature summery and beachy themed shapes which of course is just perfectly timed! (Also... Spotlight happen to have them all on SALE at the moment too. Check them out here!!)

The Christmas tree is from an older Sizzix set which is sadly no longer available, but I'm fairly confident that anyone who has been papercrafting for any amount of time has some kind of Christmas tree stamp or die or paper they could cut out! Right?!

Anyway, that's what I created using the Mood Board as inspiration. Where does it lead you?

You can find all the details for the Jot Magazine December Mood Board challenge HERE.

Bunches of Country Florals

I used to think I didn't really 'do' floral cards. But that was before I received a big box full of the latest Sizzix Lifestyle releases! I actually let the Trophy Husband do a comeback unboxing video to see his spin on all the new dies, and you can catch that on my YouTube channel HERE.

It's always fun to then see which of the die sets I end up playing with first because usually these are the ones that become long term favourites. One of the sets that caught my eye was the Country Florals set.

I love that it includes dies for a bunch of different flowers as well as leaves..... and it also includes those antlers too! I just adore this funky addition and I used them to frame this bouquet for a thankyou card.

I was so inspired I ended up doing another version of the same card design a couple of weeks after the first. This time I opted to tone down the colour palette even more, omit the antlers and layer in a few more flowers instead. That's because I wanted to focus on the florals so that it matched the sentiment I chose.

I stamped the 6" long "thank you" and masked a small section so I could add in the "bunches" as well. These are from the Stretched Sentiments stamp set from Ink Blot Shop (another new favourite aquisition!)

So it turns out I really do love making flowery cards after all! ;-)

Sizzix Lifestyle Bag Toppers, and some Unicorn inspiration!

I actually have a whole Pinterest board dedicated to gift-wrapping inspiration, but you wouldn't know it if you ever received a present from me because I always tend to leave it until the last minute - leaving me with little time to get too fancy. 

But recently I've discovered a whole new way to jazz up my wrapping game. I'm using the plain kraft bags that I have in my hall cupboard, but making them fancy with the addition of a few simple diecuts and embellishments from my stash.

This autumn-inspired decor is courtesy of an old packet of Basic Grey ephemera and the Sizzix Little Deer die, as well as the Sizzix Woodland Foliage die. Perfect combination! 

And it might not look like it, but this bag was even easier to decorate. This stunningly detailed Sizzix die is called Meadow Butterfly #2 and it's actually all one piece. I cut it out of a variety of coloured papers and then snipped out the different sections before layering them back together again.

Overall I'm quite chuffed with this technique for gift wrapping. It's another way of getting more use out of my dies, it helps whittle down my stash of scrap paper and it creates a fabulous result! I'll be doing more of this in the future I suspect!

While we're on the topic of parties (well.... kind of!) then you might be inspired by this bunch of kid's party ideas Sizzix Lifestyle have on their blog this month. You can find all the instructions along with a video on how to make these over here on their blog!

     

PS. The Trophy Husband has been back to his old tricks and uploaded an unboxing video of the latest release Sizzix Lifestyle dies that I received. Check it out!!

The Awesome Krumspring Peacock

Did you know that 'krumspring' is a Danish word which means 'doing something in a funny or non-traditional way'? That's probably why I love working with my Krumspring stamps so much.... because they always inspire me to make something a little bit different!

During June at Krumspring we celebrated Summer by making cards that best represented the season. Summer makes me think of birds and animals and being outside surrounded by nature, so I started my card with the gorgeous Peacockness stamp, and built it up from there.

Of course, I couldn't help but colour my peacock in with a rainbow of colours! I used Zig Clean Colour Real Brushes on the watercolour paper I stamped him on, and finished off with some Wink of Stella to add some shimmer.

To build my little window scene I stamped 'One Triangle at a Time' in green ink and coloured in all the little segments with various other green inks. The leaves are a Sizzix die called 'Garden Greens', and the frame is designed by Tim Holtz. It's called 'Stitched Rectangles'. Whilst the 'awesome' die comes from Studio Calico. Talk about mix and match!!

You can catch more summer-inspired Krumspring cards on their original blog post here.

xxx

Escape the Cold Winter with the Jot Magazine July Mood Board Challenge

I'd say "winter is coming" but I think it's well and truly already here! I'm literally sitting here wearing four layers of clothing and fuzzy slippers.
I much prefer the warmer weather. Give me sunshine, a sea breeze and a umbrella drink any day :-)

That's why I was inspired to pull together the July/August mood board for Jot Magazine with this tropical theme in mind. And the brightly saturated colours in nearly the whole rainbow spectrum are definitely me. Check it out....

Does it make you forget the cold... even for just a second?! LOL!
I started creating my card by piecing together this toucan which would become the focal point. We recently visiting the paint section of the hardware store and I just happened to pick up all the samples that coordinated with this mood board ;-)

I stamped the toucan from the Krumspring "Tou-Can Do It" set onto the various paint chips and then cut out different bits from each colour to put this together. I used my Sizzix Garden Greens Die Set (#661206) to cut out the leaves from all the green paint chips. I just love the unique texture these give to the card.

As for the punny sentiment... well I borrowed that idea off something I saw on Pinterest whilst I was putting together the mood board!

Care to join in with the challenge? Its running for the rest of July and August as well which will give you plenty of time to create something marvellously tropical ;-)
Evie from Funky Flair Studio is our sponsor - she offers "the best possible flair designs at the best possible price"!

Check out all the challenge details on the Jot blog HERE!

Jot Magazine Issue 18

I'm well behind in sharing and blogging, but I couldn't pass up the opportunity to promote the latest issue of Jot Magazine. You know... just in case you've been living under a rock and haven't seen it yet! 

I had a few projects featured in the free digital magazine. My favourite was this layout I created about Judah's language development. The theme was actually about journaling, and since I had a lot to say on this subject I needed to make a crazy amount of space on my page to fit it all in!

But I didn't want the layout to be boring so I made the journaling into one of the feature points of the whole page. To create this effect I first traced around some giant chipboard letters, and then handwrote all my journaling around the outlines - stopping words half way through if necessary to make them fit nicely. I erased the outlines at the end so all I was left with was the impression of the word 'word' ;-)

The other things that made me happy about this layout is that I used up a really old Jenni Bowlin Studio kit to make it - and I still believe it looks as fresh and fun as if I'd used new product! And see the trees? They were leftover Sizzix "Woodland" diecuts from a failed first attempt at this card I made for a Mood Board challenge a couple of months ago.

The second project I made for the Issue was for the Pocket Pages gallery. I've never made a pocket page before, but you know me... always up for a challenge! And it was super fun!

The way I figured it was that I would at some point give this away, and I wanted the recipient to be able to pluck out any of the 3x3" cards and use them as embellishments in their own album. But at the same time I wanted the whole page to have a cohesive colour scheme, so I stuck with these green, red, yellow and woodgrain tones.

I took the opportunity to also have a play with some new supplies, and I especially love that little card with the moustache and tie. It's created with a new Sizzix die called "Looking Dapper".

And lastly I made a double-page spread for the Project Life gallery. I always use a new Issue to prompt me to hurry up and make another page for my album! This is the January spread for my 2017 album, so clearly I was really behind at the time.

The good news is, currently I'm up to Easter... so I'm slowly catching up to real time!

I used a combination of Studio Calico's January Documenter Kit "Roman Holiday", and the Bella Blvd Illustrated Faith collection "You Are Loved" to make the spread and I'm really enjoying the green, pink and black&white combo here.

Meanwhile, the whole issue is a whopping 188 pages in total so there's clearly a truckload of other inspiration to check out. Did I mention it's FREE?!! LOL!

You can download your copy HERE.

Sizzix Triangle boxes and a GIVEAWAY

I'm pretty amateur when it comes to gift-wrapping. I always have grand ideas of making it look amazing, and I've even got a whole Pinterest board dedicated to it. But in all honesty I'm usually leaving the gift wrapping until the last minute, and so it usually just becomes throwing it into whatever bag I've got in the cupboard already! 

Recently I've had occasion to give out a few thank-you gifts, and for those I really do want to make them look special. These are usually just small token gifts - a few chocolates, a soap, cosmetics and the like, and so I only need something small to wrap them in. That's when I turned to my Sizzix Triangle Gift Box die, and I whipped up these boxes in no time at all.

The die comes with the pieces to make the box, the edging, the tag, the leaves and the heart as well, so you can make it in such a variety of colours as you mix and match the different bits. On this first box I also used the Mini Swallow die to take it up another notch!

On a different day, for a different occasion I've also made this other version. I love digging through my older stash of papers for projects like this. Papers that I probably won't use on a scrapbook layout (because they're no longer really my style) are great for this sort of thing, and it makes me feel good to be using them up!

Sizzix Lifestyle are running an awesome competition at the moment where you can win your very own Big Shot Plus (this is the HUGE one!), as well as all these dies from their latest release. Anyone that is OUTSIDE of the USA and Canada can enter this competition, and it's open until July 14th. The link to enter is here! Good luck!

June mood board at Jot Magazine

June already! And winter is upon us!
I guess winter does make me think of crisp white frosty bejewelled colour schemes (a bit like snow!) and so this current Mood Board at Jot Magazine really does fit the bill.

Here's the card I made up as an example:

The two images in the mood board that inspired me the most were those gold rosette pinwheels in the bottom right corner, and the pearl jewellery the girl is wearing.

I had need of a winter wedding card so this was perfect timing for me, and so I wanted to keep my card very regal and elegant. I started with the background of white on grey - using my Neat and Tangled Scalloped Cover Plate Die to cut out a white 'lace' to overlap the pale grey background.  Actually, I attempted to make my own grey marbled paper... but as you can see it didn't quite work out!!

And then I wanted these really thick chunky textural gold flowers all overlapping one another, so I did a bit of a handmade job on those as well. I took some of that cardboard/chipboard you sometimes get in your scrapbooking order to prevent the papers from getting bent... and painted it with gold acrylic paint. Then I used my Sizzix Bigz Tattered Florals Die to perfectly chomp out all those little flowers.

Are you feeling inspired to play along? Anita from Flutterby Designs is our generous sponsor once again, so you know there's going to be an awesome prize on offer!
Check out all the details on the Jot Magazine blog right HERE.

Krumspring Star Power and the New Release!

You might remember how I said that during May we were highlighting a different Krumspring stamp set each week? These were some of the older releases, but still very classic designs and they deserved some attention!

I wanted to share with you the card I made with the last feature stamp set called "Star Power". It's got some of Maria's signature geometric patterns in it, including one giant star..... which ironically I didn't end up using on this card because I wanted to do something a little bit different ;-)

Instead, I focused on the lots of other smaller stars you can find in the set, and I turned them into a night sky scene above a city. Why a city? I have no idea! Maybe because I was also desperate to use my new Sizzix Cityscape dies designed by Tim Holtz and this seemed like a good opportunity!

Can you tell I've been practicing my ink blending?
I needed to!

In other news, the newest release stamps have just gone live in the Krumspring shop and you can buy them as one bundle (there's 4 new sets) or individually of course. But you know you're always going to save money when you bundle them together. Speaking of saving money.... 

This is valid until June 10th!
And let me share with you just some of the sneaks of what I've been up to with these stamp sets already...

Firstly there's this fabulous Funky Pineapples Set which I am absolutely IN LOVE with! I stamped some out and started colouring them before I even had a plan in mind for what I was going to do with them! LOL! 

Then there's the Awesome Triangle Wizard Stamp which is another classic Krumspring design and makes for great backgrounds. I used mine to stamp a border onto some handmade Project Life cards which I got all of the kids to write some journaling on for the welcoming page to my 2017 album. 

You can actually see the whole page and lots more detailed images on the Krumspring blog HERE. 

And lastly for now I'll leave you with this simple little tag I whipped up using just a single heart stamp from the Monkey Madness set. Isn't it funny how sometimes the most simple of images or ideas can sometimes be so very effective? I do so love me some rainbows!
But certainly, I will still have some gorilla-oriented projects coming up real soon too!

xx