Happy Birthday Carly!

I took a stall at my kids primary school Christmas Fayre last December and a young girl, upon seeing my Gorjuss Girls Christmas cards showed such excitement that I gave one for however many pennies she had left in her pocket - not many!
So, roll on last week. My son comes home from school with a birthday invite for this very same girl! I knew right away that I would have to do something Gorjuss for her and so here it is. If you've been here recently you'll already know that not only do I love my Gorjuss, I am also loving wall hangings just now so i've combined the two for Carly.

This is her card. For all the items I've used the DoCrafts Gorjuss range of papers, die cuts, ribbons and washi tape. Here I've just done some simple matting and layering, using two images, and have added black lace, mulberry paper roses and rolled black roses. 

I added some washi tape to the inside of the card and to the envelope as well.
 

My wall hanging is 6x6" and uses the same papers, rolled roses, lace and i've added beading and bling. I used the Gorjuss stickers to spell out Carly and have sprayed the whole thing with Silver Spray and Sparkle.

And finally, I made a tag to match for the gift bag.

 

I hope Carly has a lovely party tonight and can find room on her almost teenage girl bedroom wall to display her wall hanging.

Mo xxx

Down the Memory Lane 1 Year Anniversary Celebrations!

Exciting blog post today! My Tsunami Rose Design Team mate, Nupur Patel is celebrating the first anniversary of her own blog - Down the Memory Lane!!! She has a whole fortnight of celebratory posts and has asked crafters from across the world to create something to help her celebrate - and I am honoured to say that she asked me to contribute!

I decided that it had to be something special - more than just a card - and when I opened a drawer I found a chipboard plaque! I decided on a wall hanging and then decided on a Gorjuss theme! The plaque is approx 12"x6" and has black organza tied on for hanging. There's a tag on there so I can personalise this later - possibly for my daughter once we get her room organised!

I have used the DoCrafts Gorjuss Ultimate Die-Cut pack and 12x12 papers pack. I used black acrylic paint to cover the edges and Mod Podged some papers on the plaque. I've used the die cut decoupage of the girl known as 'I found my family in a book' - one of my favourite Gorjuss Girls! Some other tags, frames and images from the die cut pack are also included on there.

I've used some ZVA creations adhesive bling and purple mulberry paper flowers. The Marianne Creatables Chinese Rose die allowed me to make rolled roses from a printed vintage french book page which was then sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists in Fully Purple and Black Cherry.

The whole thing was then coated in Silver Spray and Sparkle to finish.

Many many congratulations to Napur and her blog! Why not pop over and have a go at winning some amazing blog candy while browsing the other featured artists!

Mo xxx

Mini Wall Hangings

I have been a busy bee the last few days! Got a few things coming up that i've been creating for and the first is a raffle donation!! The Wishaw Breastfeeding Support Group are having a pamper night in a few weeks time to raise much needed funds to continue to offer support to new and breastfeeding mums in my local area. This is a cause close to my heart, I have breastfed all four of my children and I know how important a good support system is in the early days or even if it is your third or fourth - having someone there to chat to or ask questions is so important!

I was approached by one of their committee members and asked if I would be willing to donate a prize for the raffle... I have made 4! I have three to show you here just now, the final one is a DT project that will be revealed here in a few weeks time and it was after making that first one I knew what I would make for the donation.

These are made using a 6x6 board book with the two metal rings to bind it - rather than making a book, I took each board individually and strung it with organza ribbon to make a mini 6x6 wall hanging.

This first uses papers and mini blooms from the Craftwork Cards Bohemian GoodyBag. I have covered the board in the glittered papers, put more of the papers through my cuttlebug with the Tim Holtz tattered floral die and added lace, beading and a pink gem for the centre of the main flower. A Craftwork Cards sentiment finishes the piece.

This next board uses papers from the Craftwork Cards Dolly Mixtures Collection - the Cheryl Papers and tickets. I've also used some of their kraft flowers which I coloured with promarkers and distress inks.Some crushed card candi, twine and liquid pearls finish this board.

The final board is slightly different and uses papers and die cut decoupage from the DoCrafts Gorjuss Girls collection. I've added some black lace, beading and bling, along with mulberry paper roses. Rolled roses were made using more of the Gorjuss papers and then this was sprayed with silver Spray and Sparkle.

All that remains is to make some gift boxes or gift bags to hold them and hope that they will be loved by the winners! I hope the night is great success and they acheive all they set out to do!

Perhaps you will join me tomorrow for a celebratory blog post!! All will be revealed in the morning!
See you then,
Mo xxx

Tsunami Rose Designs Challenge #21 - Theme Cards

Well, the sun has been out the last two days - it may be too much to ask for another day of sunshine but we live in hope! Here today is my DT project for this week's Tsunami Rose Designs Wednesday Challenge - #21 Cards. This month we are using printable ephemera samplers from TRD and this week had a love theme! hope you like it!

I have used burgandy papers from DoCrafts Gorjuss 12x12 Paper Pack and some black corrugated card for layering. All the black and white images and sentiments are from the TRD printable ephemera sampler. 

I've added black lace, black beading and some black crochet lace to the card. The burgandy flowers kept their stems but were wrapped into a bouquet using black organza ribbon and a bow.

A couple of large black buttons finish the card. 

Hope you like it! All your Tsunami Rose links are below - please

Mo xxx

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Gorjuss Altered Board Book

I have been exploring the phenoma of Altered Art this week and in my travels I came across this Altered Board Book by Lydia Levy a DT member over at Tsunami Rose Designs. She uses a child's board book - the thick pages and excellent binding make it very good for altering, it is thick and sturdy and you dont need to bind it yourself - check out her YouTube tutorial and see what you think!
She has used a gorgeous set of printable papers by Tsunami Rose called Life Abloom - a beautiful set!

As you may know, I have four children and we are surrounded at times with books - many of which have been chewed by one or more of said children - but I took myself off to the bedrooms in search of something to use! I found a small book, only 10 pages, inclusive of the covers, - the kind you get in a small 'library', maybe with 6 in a box.... this one used to be a tale of Piglet and Roo! It had been altered somewhat already - ie someone took a colouring pen to it!!! But no signs of chewed corners - all still smooth and straight so I took it to my desk and pulled out the Ultimate A4 Die-Cuts pack and my 6x6 papers - all from the new DoCrafts/Santoro Gorjuss range.

I covered each page with the papers and added some stripey Gorjuss paper to the spine, with a ribbon detail. The edges of the book were painted with black acrylic as were the fold lines between each page, some paint was added to a couple of the pages for detail too.

 I embellished the front with some crushed card Candi and some die cuts, and added 'with love' to a banner.

As I started to add ribbons and images to the pages, I was inspired to make this a creation to give to my neice. Her name is Sky and she's having a hard time right now - I added her name in Gorjuss sticker letters and made it say 'The SKY's the limit!'

I added polka dot ribbon pulls for opening the pages. And added some wording on a few tags inside. 

I found a few quotes that I think she will appreciate and hand wrote these on a couple of the pages - using the lines of the papers as a guide.

This is, in my mind, a very simple example of an altered book. The board style book leaves no room for 3D work inside - otherwise the book will not close. I thought about adding a pocket and tag but may put something like this on the back with a tag that pulls out - I will update this post if i do decide to add that.

I am happy with how this has turned out and I am very much looking forward to doing another altered book project - perhaps a notebook/journal, something with more scope for 3D work, pockets, embellishments throughout. Watch this space!

Mo xxx

Gorjuss new Gorjuss-ness!!

I love all things Gorjuss Girls - the artist who created these quirky is from Glasgow and her paintings have made me smile for several years now. I have a few bags, lots of buttons, emery boards, prints, calendar, dairy, tins, and more tins. And lots of decoupage and toppers sheets, and now new 6x6 and 12x12 papers, A4 decoupage, ribbons, buttons and mini notelets and a list of more Gorjus stuff i want to get next month! The new papers and embellishments are from DoCrafts and I want them all!!

I love the papers and found it very hard to start cutting! But, I started with a tunnel card blank from Craftwork Cards and took it from there. The inside was covered with a red paper and another red paper used to cover the shape from the front of the card. The topper I used is called 'I Found My Family In a Book' and I thought the black Card Candi with white writing was apt for use here! I crushed it and stuck it around the edges of the shape, added the toppers and some ribbon and some tags were added to accent the 3D effect inside the card.

I tinted the front of the card with Tim Holtz Distress ink in Fired Brick and added Vintage Photo to the edges. A black fine liner gives faux stitching effect around the apperture and iconic Gorjuss stripey paper was distressed and added down the outer edges for detail.

I hand cut some spirals in the same red papers to make 3D flowers for the front and added twirly bits!
More crushed candi and some ribbon along with a tag and Gorjuss letter stickers finish the card.

I think its quite Gorjuss! I hope you do too!
Mo xxx