Altering frame fun

Hello everyone.

 

Back to share with you a little something different this time around.

 

I have started to work on decorating my new house with some of my scrapbooking work and decided that I needed some photos of my children to adorn the walls.

 

Now I didn't want to hang up ordinary frames I wanted something just a little different.

 

So.. I found this frame at my local discount shop and set to work with a little help from some  of my favourite Helmar products.

 

Here is what I ended up with ..

 

 

What to know how I did this ??

Full instructions are on the Helmar Design Team Blog so head on over to get the scoop.

 

Why not think outside the box a little and jazz up a frame yourself.

 

TFL, M x

Making a Major Helmar Mess

Okay.. so I have had a chance to play around with this month's Helmar Challenge.

 

Mind you it really got me thinking that's for sure. I am not normally one to document daily or even weekly things. So I really had to have a good think about this challenge.

 

 So when I sat down and though about this challenge I started to notice that no matter what day of the week it is and no matter what I am doing I always have my trusty faithful coffee. To top it off my coffee is always in the same thermos cup at hands reach no matter what.

 

So for me the inspiration I used for my layout is my coffee. Bit of a challenge to scrap about as I don't normally choose something like this as my subject.

 

Here's what I created with this in mind.

 

I thought I would quickly share with you all how I created the base of my layout. Mainly because it was so much fun, I got to make a HUGE mess, I used up a pile of old chipboard stash letters and I got to play with some of my favourite Helmar products.

 

 For the base of my layout because I knew I was going to play around with a glue wash (made from 1 part Helmar Acid Free Glue and 3 parts water) I didn't want the base to warp. I don't know about you but I have LOTS of chipboard letters left over that I never seem to use because I don't seem to have all the letters I need in the same font when doing a title. So I worked out what I needed with the chipboard letters, spaced them out on the base and then adhered then once happy with placement using Helmar Acid Free Glue.

 

Then.. this was where the fun REALLY began and I mad so much mess..

Once the letters were dry I gave the whole thing a light coat of paint and hit it with the heat gun to speed up the drying process.

 

Once dry I then took single layers of patterned paper napkin I had cut into small squares and adhered it to the base using my Helmar glue wash. Once dry the red paint showed through and highlighted the negative of the napkin. I then coated the whole base with a light coat of red paint wash. to tone it down a little.

 

Next I wanted to  highlight the chipboard alphas to make them pop out of the layout. I grabbed a permanent marker and carefully coloured in each letter then gave the base a light coat of Helmar Krystal Kote Fixative.

 

The final touch I then added to my base was to lightly go over the letters with a white paint wash to highlight them and blend them into the background a little. I went over it a few times using a heat gun to dry it several times till I was happy. Then finally have the base a coat of Helmar Krystal Kote Matte Spray to finish the base off and take out any shine.

 

Had so much fun playing around with this challenge. Not only with the theme.. but because I had a chance to play around and experiment with some Helmar products to create my own dimensional base for my layout.

 

Why not have a play around with this challenge yourself.

 

TFL, M x

 

 

In ABSOLUTE heaven !

This week Helmar and Darkroom Door have teamed up.

 

Now.. what I can say about this is... OMG I have been hiding under a rock lately that's for sure !!!

 

Why oh why have I not discovered Darkroom Door products before !?!

 

I was in absolute heaven when my Helmar Design Team goodies arrived with some super yummy rubber stamps and word strips in it. Now I am in love with their products so much that I know that my stamp collection is just going to go through the roof soon!

 

Now as some of you may know I absolutely LOVE butterflies...

 

and guess what arrived in my pack...

Yes.. these super yummy stamps!!!!

 

Was absolutely beside myself that I had to play with the straight away.

 

Now once I had created my base for my layout using some texture paste, paint and then glimmer mist I sealed the base of the layout using some Helmar Crystal Kote Fixative before I rubbed the base with  some ink to help the brick pattern shine through the base. once this was done I sealed the whole base with some Helmar Crystal Kote Matte Varnish. It too any unnecessary shine out and seal everything nicely.

Once the paper doily and paper had been adhered to the base I had created, using my Helmar Tape Runner and Helmar Acid Free Glue, I set to work embellishing the layout.

Now that is where my new Darkroom Door stamps came into play. Super easy to use and just perfect for what I had in mind for this layout. Using a few scraps of patterned paper I was able to stamp some butterflies and then cut them out by hand. The best bit about the butterflies though are that they are so life like looking. I think they almost look like they are flying on my page. To give the butterflies that little bit of dimensions and also to help adhere them to the different layers surface I had already created with the twine and chipboard swirl I used Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots. It meant the the butterflies could be adhered without any worries about an uneven surface.

 

To finish off the layout I really didn't want to do any huge amount of journalling. Now the perfect thing I found to use was the word strips by Darkroom Door. I was able to chose the words to suit what I wanted to say. I cut them out and inked each word. They were then scattered throughout the the twine and chipboard and adhered there using some Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots to give them some dimension. Super easy but every effective I think.

And here's the layout in full.

 

I had so much fun playing around with both my Helmar and Darkroom Door products.

 

Don't forget to check out the rest of the amazing creations the rest of the Helmar Design Team have created using these too products.

 

Products Used -

Darkroom Door Rubber Stamps - Wings DDRS091

Darkroom Door Word Strips - Kimono DDWS023

Helmar 450 Quick Dry

Helmar Crystal Kote Fixative

Helmar Crystal Kote Matt Varnish

Helmar Adhesive Tape Runner

Helmar Acid Free Glue

Helmar Gemstone Glue

Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots

 

TFL, M x

Cherish those around you

Hello all.

 

I am most excited to be able to share this Helmar project I created just recently with you all.

 

First to explain just a little about the project...

 

I absolutely adore creating things for other people. I also love being able to create something with a bit of meaning behind it. So bearing all that in mind I recently had a trip up to Townsville. Now before the trip I had it set in my mind that I wanted to be able to create a little something for the Woman's Hospital where my first child was born and became a little angel in heaven at the same time. The staff at the hospital were amazing and have been a great support to me and my family ever since. This year marked a special anniversary with it being his sixteenth birthday. So I wanted to be able to give back to all those special people that work in the Neonatal ward. I find the work, love and support that they put into their job truly amazing and have been blessed to have had them help myself and my family throughout the past years.

 

So.. with all this in mind I wanted to create something that could be hung up to remind everyone how precious time is and to not take anything for granted. Life is just too precious in my mind.

 

I created a canvas for the ward that was about 30" x 40" in size. I had lots of fun making so much mess with some Helmar Decoupage Paste, napkins and texture paste to create this canvas base.

 

 

I coloured my texture paste using an iridescent red paint. However because I also wanted to add some depth to the canvas with some script stamping, once the paint was dry I sprayed the whole canvas with a light layer of Helmar Cystral Kote Fixative. This prevented any running. Once I had finished all the stamping I then gave the whole canvas a coat of Helmar Crystal Kote Matte Vanish. This took any shine out of the base from all the adhesives and also seal the whole base nicely.

 

Using Helmar Liquid Scrapdots to adhere the embellishments to the canvas meant the I could create a lot of depth and dimension to the base with so much ease. And the best bit was that I knew with all the help from my trusted Helmar products that the canvas would stand the test of time without anything falling off.

 

I had stamped butterflies onto transparency paper that I had adhered napkins to. To adhere them to the base I used a dab of Helmar 450. It adhered them nicely to the texture paste with little effort.

 

Helmar products used -

Helmar 450 Quick Dry

Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots

Helmar Decoupage Paste

Helmar Crystal Kote Fixative

Helmar Crystal Kote Matte Varnish

 

Off to get crafting with some more Helmar goodness.

 

TFL, M x