Cog-gratulations cards

Who is coming along to Craft Alive in Toowoomba on the 12th-14th February? 

 If yes, pop in and say hello to us at Stand 14 PLUS I will also be teaching 2 cog-gratulations for the boys in your family. First, get down and dirty misting and spraying an arty, masculine birthday card that includes a cog shaker-box.

Then ink, distress and emboss your way through Card No 2.

 Bookings for this one hour class are available through the Craft Alive website here http://www.craftalive.com.au/events/toowoomba-qld-workshops/ AND don't worry if you can't make it I am sure to be teaching the cards again back on the Coast or up at Shelley's Land in Acadia Ridge

Kaisercraft Time Machine Cards

Hi All - after a loooong break I am back to scrapping.  It was either that or Tracy was going to hot-glue me to my scrapping desk until I produced something. :)

The chance to work with the new Kaiser range - Time Machine - was a big incentive though. Gorgeous shades of chocolate brown and cream matched with various shades of green and the odd bit of black and white.  Lots of clock and steampunk-ish motifs and some very lovely damask style patterns.  Absolutely suits masculine layouts - but you could get some dramatic feminine ones as well.

I got to work with the 6.5" Paper Pad (which is already out of stock BUT email Tracy as I know several people missed out and want her to order more in), so a few cards were the perfect start to my return to scrapping.  I can't wait to get my hands on the 12" papers though - I really want to try a layout or two with them.

Card #1 uses what has to be my favourite paper in the range. Creamy shades with a chocolate edge- a lovely grid pattern and cog-bits around the corners. After inking the edges with Wendy Vecchi Desinger Series Archival Ink Potting Soil, I've matted it on the darkest paper in the range and then matted that again on a Kaiser 13x13 square cream card.

A little stamping with Pine Cone with the lovely Kaiser Botanical stamp and a die cut cog (using a Kaiser die) or two gives me a nice foundation for the card. The smaller brown cog has been inked and the larger green one has been sprayed Aquamarine Glimmermist and inked.

The two small die cut pieces are from the 6.5" Paper Pad. Throw in a bronze cog from the Gadget Gears Cog Charms pack, a neat little Bronze Arrow Charm and my favourite Antique Bronze Clock Charm and you are almost done.

I added a bit of inked mesh here and there - sprinkled over some Golden Crunch Sugar Beads  and topped the whole card off with 2 pieces from the stunning Steampunk Wings and Things kit - my favourite ever my2angels embellishment.

For Card #2 I used Kaisercraft Coffee Bean cardstock as the base and cut it with the new Kaiser Circle Card Flip Die  (available from Shelley's Land on facebook). My second favourite paper design from the range - a lovely dark aquamarine colour with chocolate/black contrasts is matted onto the card.

Again - I have combined die cut pieces from the 6.5" Paper Pad, with bronze cogs from the Gadget Gears Cog Charms pack, the Bronze Arrow Charm and my favourite Antique Bronze Clock Charm.  I then cut out one of the clocks printed on a collage patterned paper and popped it under a cabochon. Voila - all done - too easy.

On a roll now - I used a bit of scrap dark brown cardstock from my stash to make another Kaiser Flip card (the Lattice Flip this time) and matted it with a stunning, dark turquoise damask patterned paper. To contrast - I used a cream, shades of green, and chocolate clock patterned paper, both from the 6.5" Paper Pad.

More die cut pieces for my card sentiments - but this time I used the Antique Bronze Clocks with Curly Numbers Charm, another Bronze Arrow Charm and some sweet chocolate two-toned roses 

As you can see the range is very versatile - suited to both masculine and feminine card styles. Time Machine is easy to work with and Tracy has a great range of embellishments, flowers and charms that will work well with it.

Love you to Infinity – A Male Valentine’s Card

With Valentine’s Day coming up I thought I would be extra organised this year and get my husband’s card made early.  Here is what I came up with using the Grunge Love you to Infinity Key embellishment.



I made a 14.5 square card base (cream card) as it works well with the CD.

First I grabbed a white faced CD/DVD and stamped the background and embossed with Gold Zig Embossing Powder.  I then inked the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Walnut Stain. 

Die cut three cogs using Tim Holtz Gadget Gears die from thick card/chipboard.  Emboss with Stampendous Aged Ivory  Embossing Enamel.  Randomly sprinkle a small amount of Distress Black Soot Embossing Powder and heat emboss.  If you use too much Black Soot embossing powder as I did, just place some more Aged Ivory embossing powder.

I also used a small amount of Distress Black Soot Embossing Powder and heat embossed the metal Gadget Gear Cog Charms for inside the card.



I matted the front and the inside the card of the card with black and cream card.

Adhere some black florist mesh (or you could use nylon fly screen or muslin dyed black) to the front of the card.

Adhere the CD/DVD onto the mesh.

 Add cogs and the Grunge Love you to Infinity Key embellishment onto the CD/DVD.

Inside the card adhere the metal Gadget Gear Cog Charms, and write your sentiment

All finished - I hope your partner loves it.

Kaisercraft Off the Wall - Embrace Imperfection....more grunge!

Hi there & Happy 2015 to you all!  Michele here again with my second Off the Wall layout.

This time I let myself get really grungy and chose what I think are three VERY suitable photos to match the papers. 

We all have that friend who brews their own, right? Because it's cheaper, stronger, or (supposedly) tastes better. Usually it's beer, sometimes it's a liqueur - maybe something like Baileys Irish Cream, occasionally it's wine made from strange plants like Elderberry, Dandelion or Pear. 

This time it was just straight spirits...like Vodka or Schnapps - only much worse. LOL! My layout tells it like it is.

This year I really need to stick to my NY Resolutions and use up the TONS of stuff I have in my stash! I started this layout with just that in mind.

Who else has dozens of sets of unused alphas? Fortunately someone clever came up with the idea of using them to create texture and interest on the background, so I happily embraced that idea on this layout.

There are three layers making up this background - all inked on the edges with Black Soot Distress ink and an Ink Blending tool. First a sheet of Kaisercraft Navy Weave Cardstock, followed by a sheet of grey corrugated cardstock from my stash with one edge torn off and a sheet of the reverse of Attitude , also with the edge torn off. I cheated a bit and used this last edge to tuck between the cardstock and the corrugated card so that it looks like there are four layers.

Then I started to play. I can't remember in what order I did this, but I don't think it matters much either.

Around the edges are some torn printed tapes....Kaisercraft Dominos and Happiness, and Darice Black and White Script. I randomly pushed Viva Decor Mother of Pearl Light Blue Modelling Cream and Matt Multi Medium through my Dots template and then I added some American Crafts Thickers in small groups around the page.

Over the top of these is a light, watered down coat of black Gesso, just to take the shine off the letters and to make sure the next layer stayed on - the next layer being a coat of Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint - very thin on top of the letters - but quite thick in the spaces between them. This took ages to dry, but when it was completely crackled I added some Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink. A splodge of the ink pad on my craft sheet, a spray with water, then I applied it in and around the crackled areas with a paintbrush.

Before adding the photos I laid a few vertical strips of paper and some Idea-ology Film Strip Ribbon down the side of the page. The paper strips are the cut off manufacturers edges from the Off the Wall Attitude and Tag papers. The Film Strip ribbon is out of stock right now, but I need some more, so I will be asking Tracy to re-stock.  ;)

My photos are all mounted on Dimensional Tape. In keeping with my resolution, I have used eyelets and Silver Iron Chain to join them up. It must be years since I used my Crop-a-Dile and eyelets!!

Embellishing this one was fun. There's some tangled blue embroidery thread, Gadget Gear Cog Charms, Silver Typewriter Charms, Rhinestone Dots (both Black and Clear) and Licorice Twist Sugar Beads.

In amongst it all there are also some small watch parts my hubby found for me on eBay, an Ideaology Word Band - ''Embrace Imperfection'' and a small bottle. Inside the bottle is some water with Chipped Sapphire colour added (Shhh ... I rinsed my paintbrush in it). A small white Ideaology Remnant Rub - Halloween Apothecary was perfect as a label for it. I love that these come in both black and white :)

My journalling (as usual - not really expansive, but descriptive of the photos) is on printable canvas. In case you can't read it (I know it isn't very clear) it says:

''a - Politely agree to taste your friend's home brew''

''b - Savour the flavour''

''c - Give him a considered, honest opinion''

Since I have used less than three whole papers from this range on my last two layouts, I still have stacks to use. Look out for some cards and tags coming your way soon!

One for the boys using Kaisercraft's Off the Wall

Yay! Another awesome collection of ''Boy'' papers in the tradition of the ''Attitude'' range from Kaisercraft -  ''Off the Wall''.

Lucky for me, our first grandchild turned out to be a boy! Just perfect don't you think? This collection will be featuring in a good many of my layouts in the future and here's the first of them - ''Airplane''.

I love getting grungy for a boy layout, but I think this little boy is still too small for full-on grunginess, so I've tried for a compromise with this one. It's a bit messy, but not too much :)

The base paper is the reverse side of Attitude, a chalky cityscape which looks like it could have been seen from the window of a plane...which is where this cute photo was taken. This was DGS's first trip on a plane coming home to Sydney from America. Perfect, yes?

I inked all the paper and sticker edges on this layout with Black Soot Distress Ink and an Inkssentials Ink Blending Tool. On this background paper I also popped on a couple of torn strips of tape - Kaisercraft Happiness and Darice Black & White Script.

Across the almost-centre is a strip of the absolutely gorgeous Tag paper - what a great pop of colour! I was a bit bored with just the blues though, and there was a lime green stripe in the original photo, so I decided to match it with a few splashes of colour - then I cropped the stripe out of the photo. LOL! Such is life!

My splotches are made from white gesso pushed through a Crafters Workshop Mini Splats Template. When it had completely dried I used Key Lime Pie Glimmermist to add colour. I brushed it on rather than spraying and added in several layers, drying between each, deepening the colour in some places and leaving it light in others. There are also some smaller splatters in places made by tapping the wet paintbrush.

On top of that there is some great darker green shimmer made with Mint Green Inka Gold. Did you know that you can mix this amazing stuff with water and paint it on? I didn't until I saw some videos online! I tried to get the shimmer into this photo ... not much success, but you get the idea. The spatters it makes are a bit thicker and more textured too ... bonus!

Some mesh tape along the edges; and my photo attached and it's time to embellish. I have used some silver Ball and Chain to link up my Gadget Gear Cog Charms with two Silver Aeroplane Charms. The green inside the cog is a drop of Key Lime Glimmermist and a dollop of  Glossy Accents mixed together with a pin. It looks a bit like stained glass - which gives me a few other ideas for later.   ;)

My Airplane title is made from some manilla stencil cards I was given ... here is the treatment I gave them:

When you've peeled all the letters out of the soggy looking mess with your tweezers you get these - a metallic looking positive and a negative to play with later.

I also bent mine around a bit to get some cracks into the letters.

The photo is mounted on a piece of black corrugated cardstock and a square of the reverse side of Tag. One edge is punched, and I have added the pieces that were punched off to the bottom edge of the Tag paper next to a piece of Boys, Mates, Pals, Buddies Ribbon. The white edge is cut off the ribbon. 

Tucked in around the photo there are a few stickers from the range (tickets and arrows) and a small piece of punched Loud. More silver Gadget Gear Cog Charms and Ball and Chain, a silver Typewriter Charm and a silver Camera Charm complete the layout.

Off the Wall from Kaisercraft now in store

This is a seriously awesome paper collection for the boys from Kaisercraft  now in store at my2angels in the new arrivals section

Plus Kaisercraft cardstock in Marine, Blue Jeans and Navy to match 

And don't forget to embellish your creations with our boy embellishments found here

Upcoming my2angels Kits and Classes

Upcoming my2angels Kits and Classes

Boys & their Toys (single layout kit)

With the Retreat out of the way, my fingers were itching to get back into creating. For our first Kit this month I got down and dirty in a green and grungy way.  There's a bit of splishing and splashing on this one, along with some sizzling silver embossing.  The vivid green of the mat really makes the photo pop - and for this reason I think the Kit works best with a black and white photo (a colour photo that includes some bright green would also look great).

Each Kit contains all the materials needed to complete the layout. Special inclusions are the bottles of home-made "mowed lawn" and "black soot" mists, as well as embossed/inka gold chipboard letters, acetate cog template, assorted chipboard, Gesso, silver charms and my2angels boy ribbon.

Kit cost is $30.00 plus postage ($7.20). 

Suits 6x4 size landscape photo, though you could adjust the layout to suit a portrait photo.

From your own stash you will need some simple basic supplies: your usual adhesives, staples & stapler, plus a permanent black ink eg Stazon Jet Black.

Instructions will be emailed to you at the time the Kit is posted.

Green Brother (double layout)

 Get all green and krafty with this double layout for boys (big or little). Time for a little stamping and misting fun on a 'simple yet effective' masculine layout. Like most boys, it's a little disorganised and a lot messy - and I promise, a whole heap of fun.

Each Kit contains all the materials needed to complete the layout. Special inclusions are the bottles of home-made "mowed lawn" and "vintage photo" mists, sample pot of Old Gold Ferro, as well as assorted chipboard, various elements for layering and bronze charms.

Suits 6x4 size landscape photo and a selection of smaller photos (for page 2); though you could adjust the layout to suit a portrait photo and/or other photo sizes.  For the opposite page I used 2 "3x4" portrait photos and 1 "3x4"landscape photo.

Instructions will be emailed to you at the time the Kit is posted.

Kit cost is $37.95 plus postage ($7.20). 

From your own stash you will need some basic supplies: your usual adhesives, a stapler (we will supply the brown staples to match the colour theme), brown ink (eg Pinecone or Jumbo Java) and a background texture stamp (I used Kaisercraft triangles).

Optional - sewing machine - if you want to stitch a border like I did. (You can cheat though and mark it in pen if you want.)

BONUS OFFER -  purchase both masculine kits for $60 plus postage ($9.00).  

 

MARK YOUR CALENDAR for the following classes

 instore at my2angels

The Perfect Beach (layout class at my2angels)

Sunday 12th October - (Change of date as previously advised in newsletter)

$25.00

1pm till approximately 3.30pm

Time for some summer fun. Shhh - I know it's only spring, but now's the time to get last summer's beach photos done before the kids have time to get to the beach for this summer's photos. See - there is method to my madness!!!!

Loads of creative technique fun with this layout. Learn to create your own 3-D sandcastle embellishment from a bit of spare cardboard. Splash around a bit of gesso here and there, layer in some mesh, mist it all over with some home-made Mist and pop on the odd water bubble or silver beach charm. Sun, sand and messy texture paste fun - what more could you want?

At $25.00 for the class - including all materials - you won't get a better way to spend your crafty day. We throw in the giggles and gossip for free. Just bring your usual adhesives and basic tools.

Sunday 26th October 11am - 1pm

$25.00 includes all products and materials

Sunday 26th October 1pm-3pm

 $35.00 includes all products and materials

Bookings are essential for instore classes and a deposit of $10.00 per class is required to book your space.

Fun in the sun layout

Hi, it's Geli!

If you know a little boy, a teen getting their P plates or a racecar mad man, then you want this cool traffic light embellishment! 

And even better, it's already cut out and ready to assemble in one beautiful mini kit for only $2.00. Find it here at my2angels. It was really easy and the instructions include photos, so you don't even have to think hard. 

I teamed it up with a basic brights charming dates embellishment (comes in a set of 5 bright colours with different words), a truck charm, some boy ribbon and my favourite puffy stars, plus a few sequins.

The photo was outlined with some rhinestone chain (the black goes well with the traffic light) and I did some simple stitching with the Sew Easy tool using the Smocking head (no, I did not say smoking head). 6 different colours... what can I say, sometimes I get carried away.

I will be teaching this layout in my home classes next week (Monday and Friday morning, Thursday night), which will include the embellishments and you bring your own papers.

♥♥♥ 

Geli