Special days are frequently celebrated over the summer and so many will have photographs that deserve to be off our cameras and out of the ether  and an album is just the right place to hold them. Created with love it also makes a very special gift.

For this make I have used the Canvas Album Set, this time making it up with the correct number of pages - if you did not see my earlier blog the kit says use fabric to cover the inside spine BUT actually there is a set of cards with 2 vertical lines on them in the set and it is the larger one of these that needs to be adhered to the inside spine area once you have added the canvas cover. Then you adhere the two plain card panels to each side of the book covering the join made by the first piece. The rest of the construction is as the instructions. A word to the wise make sure all of the open ends of the pages are at the top and also when you come to decorate that you have them accessible from the top as this gives you pockets into which you can add additional photomats and tags. 

The first page has two flaps, one opening to the right and the other to the left. The smaller strips cut when making the base pieces were scored at 1" and the flap created tucked behind the main piece of paper before it was adhered to the base of the album page. more fussy cut elements, lace and another resin piece were then added. A photomat was placed behind the flaps.

Page 2 has two corner pockets cut from background papers - I took an 8" piece of paper and then cut from one cover to 14.5cm along the bottom edge to give the first pocket. The remaining piece was then trimmed to give a pocket with a 14.5cm side and a 12cm side. These were adhered on two sides and then an embellishment cluster added as shown.

 

Page 3 has a top opening flap created using one of the square toppers from the big paper pad - to recreate it from the papers instock you will need to cut a piece of paper 14cm square and score at 1" from the top and then adhere the flap behind the base paper. On top of the flap I created an embellishment cluster and finally I adhered a photomat in place beneath the flap.

Pages 4 and and 5 are created in a similar way to page 1.

Pages 6 and 7 are triangular pocket pages like page 2.

 

Pages 8 and 9 are made the same way as page 1.

Pages 10 and 11 are made the same way as page 2.

Pages 12 is a top pocket page like page 3 and the inside back cover made the same way as the inside front cover.

For the spine I added a resin plaque and some paper images.

And finally on the back I layered some more paper pieces to neatly secure the ribbon in place.

 

I really do think that this collection is very pretty and so worth having in our crafty arsenal. I hope you like what I have created and it inspires you to create your own memory albums.

For this make I decided I would work with the Ring Bound Journal that was recently released. I know it may seem expensive at first glance but with 80 pages inside which all have very subtle detailing I think that it will prove itself good value for money when you consider how much art work it will hold. The ring bound nature also means you do not need to worry about adding bulk to some of your pages either as there is lots of room for expansion.

I started by taking two pages out of the journal and joining them with low tack tape so that I could work across the two pages. Step one was to add inking around the edges. I did this with both the Burgundy Dye Ink Pad bringing the colour in from the edge and then added Coffee Ink to add depth around the edges.

I splattered some water over the page, left it to sit for a few seconds and then blotted off the excess so that I had water marks left on the pages.

For extra detail I then used the coffee ink through the Book stencil adding areas at random across the two pages. If you don't have this stencil you could just as easily use the Postcard stencil.

Before adding anything else I worked out where I was going to place my decorative elements and then adding stamping. I used one of the text stamps and the crackle stamp with coffee ink and the ticket stamp with the burgundy ink from the Happiness Elements stamp set. To create variation in depth I repeat stamped the images without re inking.

 

The edges of all the paper elements were coloured with Coffee ink. The side pieces are torn strips of paper from 8 x 8 Our Way as are most of the elements added on top with the remaining elements coming from the 12 x 12 Paper Collection. The elements were collaged on top of each other until I was happy with the results - don't forget you can cut elements in half which is something I do a lot of and then use the cut edge on the opposite page or hide it under another element.

Finally I added splatters  using watered down burgundy and coffee ink and also some watered down soft gesso. Once the pages were dry I then removed the low tack tape and slipped them onto the book rings in my journal.

 

Hello!

I have a couple of very simple floral cards to share this week that were created with the gorgeous Floralies stamps from Katzelkraft.

The card above has a very simple background created by misting Basil and Saffron Flat Matte Sprays on a panel of card cut to fit on part of a 5 x 7ins card blank. I then stamped on the leafy frond with VersaMark ink and heat embossed the images with gold embossing powder.

I stamped my chosen flower on white stamping card with black ink and coloured the image with marker pens. I then cut the image out leaving a narrow white border.

I cut narrow panels of deep green and kraft card and glued these on the background paper. I added a further deep green and kraft mat under the background panel.

I glued the flower in place and finished off with a birthday sentiment from the Ataraxia Citations stamp set.

Here's a bonus card which is also very simple to make.

For this card I cut a narrow panel of white stamping card and took the pansy floral spray image, stamping this with black ink on the bottom right of the card strip.

I created a mask from a large Post-It Note and stuck this over the stamped image. I stamped the floral image again several times, moving the mask as necessary until I had pansies climbing up the card panel to leave a space at the top.

I coloured the images with watercolour markers as before and set the stamped panel on a black mat before gluing this to a 5 x 7ins kraft card blank

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I finished off with text from the Ataraxia Citations stamp set.

 

Have a great weekend and see you next week.

 

Fliss x

For this weeks make I have returned to Antony James Minis designs this time using the Filmstrip  shadow box with 3 compartments to make a diorama. I started by making up the back part of the box leaving off the front filmstrip panel. I coated the inside of the box with Structure Paste and then adhered some of the pieces that pop out of the front filmstrip into place using the Structure Paste whilst it was wet so that I created a brick wall effect. Once the paste had dried I then painted over Brown Antiquing Gel wiping it back before it had dried completely to highlight the textures.

I then painted the outside of the box and the filmsrip piece with Cherry Lasur Gel. To add extra detail to the front panel I used a Versamark ink pad and stamps from the Create Happiness Elements stamp set embossing them with gold embossing powder.

The next step was to decorate the moulds I wanted to fill the boxes - I cast these pieces using Amazing Casting Resin and Street mould. Once the resin had set I then set about painting them. Everything was given a coat of Old Ivory paint. For the light fittings and labels I then dragged a Archival Black Soot ink pad over the surface as this picked up the details beautifully and is far easier than trying to paint them in. The light parts of the lamps were then filled with Glossy Accents and left to dry.

The details on the windows were achieved by brushing over Turquoise paint before filling the panes with more Glossy Accents. The plant pots were then painted with Cookie, Garden Green and Corn paints.

Once dried the elements were adhered in place before adding some fussy cut roses from the Desire paper collection.

I hope you like how I have used Antony's fabulous MDF kit and hope you have a safe and creative week ahead.

The London mould with all of its iconic images appealed to me the minute I saw it and so it fell into my shopping basket. For my make this week I have created a mixed media canvas using a 20cm by 30cm deep canvas in landscape orientation.

To start my make I added pieces of Strange London rice paper from an old collection as it had a map of England - you could use any neutral background paper instead for example the Lady Vagabond London would also work. The rice paper was glued with Mixed Media Glue as I knew that I needed to protect the surface for later on in the project and the glue acts as a sealant when brushed over the surface. Having applied the rice papers I then added  areas of stencilling by applying Transparent Crackle Medium through the Street Map Stencil.

To bring out the details in the crackle paste once it had dried and also in the mould I used Vintage Antiquing Paste wiping back the surface until I was happy with the results.

Next I took some left over paper scraps from the Our Way 12 x 12 cut to approximately 1" wide and tore the ends before distressing with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide. The paper strips were layered in place to create a ground on which to build the rest of the composition.

I then chose lots of paper elements from the paper collection and also the Collectables paper set and played around with the composition until I was happy before adhering everything in place using Multi Purpose Glue and also Matte Heavy Body Gel where I felt added dimension was required and also for the resin piece. I also added pieces from the Our Way die cuts. These are made from grey board and so are quite substantial making them fantastic to use on decorative wall art.

To complete the project I took some paper flowers and coloured them with very diluted paints before adhering in place along with art stones and Burnt Umber Glamour Sparkles.

I hope you like my take on this wonderful mould - its so difficult to find iconic English images but I do feel that this collection has sorted that problem out quite nicely.

Please stay safe and enjoy your crafting.

Hello!

I have one of the gorgeous new landscape shadow tags to share this week and they'te a fabulous way to create a piece of home decor to hang on the wall.

I assembled the shadow tag before decorating it this time because I planned on adding a piece of textured cardstock in the centre.

I painted the outer areas with Sandstone Multi Surface Paint and once it was dry, I brushed on a coat of Daily Art Transparent Crackle Paint. After a short time it crackled rather well. To deepen the shade of paint I gave the crackled areas a top coat of Bitumen.

I added the images to the background using spare pieces of MDF to raise some areas up for a 3D effect. I finished off with some ribbon and fabric flowers threaded through the top.

 

 

  

Have a great weekend and see you next week.