Well, Hello May! Where did you sneak up on us from???
This is going to be a bit of a catch post, with close ups of the projects I've done for the Dolly kit last month, and some other random stuff - so it might worth grabbing a coffee before we beging!
I was very honoured to be asked by Wendy to make some samples for her March/April Kit, it was a beautiful kit (I'm pretty sure it's sold out, sorry folks) with a really cool, unusual colour combinetion of black, blue, green, white and bone. But my favourite bit about Wendy's kits are the bits that are exclusive just to Paper Doll! This month's kit came with exclusive design journal blocks, and a sheet Paper Doll alphabet. The alphabet is by far my favourite and I've since aquired several more sheets of it! Mostly because it is just so versitile. The white text means you can colour them in any colour to match exactly what project you need them for, and you can cut the block down to any shape you need - even trimming around the letter so that it's a little monogram. AND most importantly, at $2 per sheet you CANNOT go wrong.
Here are the Layouts I completed and what products/techniques I used!
"Every Journey Begins with A Single Step"
I'm in love with using pattern backgrounds at the moment, but you still need some stablity to the layout, so I trimmed down the black motif pattern paper, and mounted it on the Kraft cardstock. I used a shaped piece of cardstock (by either Jenni Bowlin or MM) as a template to cut the blue patterned paper. I mounted the photo on some more Kraft (and the left overs from this sheet were used for my cards) and placed the journalling cards slightly tucked underneath the photo. All the ribbon and buttons on this layout came in the kit, as did the little flower motif and green heart pin that the birdie is sittin on. I used thread to stitch his legs. His button wing has some pink material leftover from a Tia Bennett class I did at CC in Syd last year.
"An Outside Kid"
Whilst I'm not thrilled with how this layout turned out, I will definetly be using this technique again. To get the green doily pattern, I used some semi-perminate adhesive to stick down the doily to the white card stock, and then I brushed some green scrapbook die over the top, I wasn't sure if this would work to be honest, I thought it might seep (sp??) through the thin doily and all over my cardstock. But I tired to keep the brush with as little dye as I could, and concentrated on the out side of it! When I lifted the doily off, I was amazed at how well it had worked! You HAVE to try it. I let the,now green, doily dry, trimed the edges off so it fit in the centre of the pattern, and then ran it through my cuttlebug for a little emboss job. Before sticking it to the page, I brushed some black ink over the embossing, just to give it a bit more definetion. My kit had come with this cool black brads, and they where perfect for in the centre of the pattern in the doily!
"Sail away"
This layout was simple to put together, but took me awhile to complete! I used the scraps of my pattern paper, trimmed them into very thin strips and threaded the strip into the doily. I love the effect, and I think I'm going to do it again just for on a canvas. Maybe with a doily painted black and some red and orange patterned paper! How cool are those white embellishments either side of my title?? So cool, and you get an entire, double sided 12 x 6 pack of them!! It has frames as well, which is very cool! Here is a close up of the doily;
Last weekend, I had pleasure of being a Dolly Shop Girl again!! I've missed being a shop girl so much!! Wendy and I had a great time running the Paper Doll stall at Picture to page! We did a make and take, and helping people find some diamonds amongst the rough (hehehe)!! Wendy even started making a very cool layout - using this awesome pipe cleaner embellishment (also a PD original!). Harry took the photo of Wendy and I in our matching aprons (so professional!) and I added some doodling around the edges of things! It turned out great! See . . .
It was also really cool to catch up with old friends, Karen, Ros, Sarah and Michelle! I forgot how cool scrapbooking is, and HOW AWESOME Scrapbookers are!!! Hoozah for us!
Anyway, so teaching the make and take was really fun, and I'm preparing class instructions of my "The Real You" Layout for Paper Doll's Online workshops (check back for further updates) but I also thought it would be fun to put up the instuctions for one of my cards on my blog too!! But I don't know which one to choose! So I'm doing a poll in my sidebar . . . You get to Vote for which Card you want to see as a FREE PROJECT!! How cool is that!! For a reminder on what each card looks like go HERE! And Click next to go through all the cards!
Happy Voting, and Happy Mothers Day to all!!!
xoxo
