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

Just because.. Spider fun

Hello all.

Once again I have been busy on the card making front. This past month and upcoming month bring lots of birthdays. However.. every now and again I like to be able to create a card to send to someone special just because. We all live very busy lives and sometimes we don't tell those that mean a lot to us that we are thinking of them.

Over the past few months I have been very lucky to get to know a very special boy. I had found some goodies while at the shops the other day with him in mind. Now.. I didn't want to send the goodies without popping a little card just to let him know I was thinking about him.

So with all this in mind I got creative with some goodies from The Robin's Nest.

Now the Hot Flame paper range was perfect to create a card with a masculine theme.

Products Used -

Black Cardstock

Chili Flame Border

Damask Black and White

Mens Dew Drops

Garden Twine

Metal Spider Web Embellishment

Why not get creative and send a card to someone just to let them know that you are thinking of them.

TFL, Mx

In love with My Mind's Eye !!!!!

Back again to share with you all my last bit of scrapping for the year..

 

Well I may get a chance to have a bit of a play in a few weeks.. but won't be till I have managed to set up myself a space to create.

 

So.. once again I have had some yummy products to play with from Mad About Scrappin.

 

OMG.. when I chose these papers I was in love.. however must say that when I saw the papers in real life they were even better than I had expected. I must say that Leanne find the best products to sell in her store.. AND at such amazing prices too!!!

 

I played around with My Mind's Eye - The Sweetest Thing paper range. I love that they match up so perfcetly and lend themselves to a variety of themes. Most of all I love the fact that they are double sided which means that I have twice as much paper to select from !

 

So.. with a little help from some ink, stamps and some super cute photos of my kidlets I was able to create away to my hearts content with this yummy paper range.

 

 

I love stamps... most of all I love hand cutting. I was able to combine the two by stamping onto the yummy paper range to create my own embellishments which I was able to then layer over some paper flowers. this helped to create dimensions and softened the overall look.

 

I created the base of this layout by stamping onto some recycled card and then "painted" the stamped image to "emboss" it with a thick glue wash. I then sprayed the whole base with multiple layers of glimmermist to highlight the stamped image. Then I rubbed the edges and stamped image with ink to bring it out even more. This created a fun base to work with that matched my papers perfectly.

 

Nothing like a stamping with a clear stamp in your hand rather than a stamp block. I love the effect that I achieve doing this. You get the stamped image but not all of it and just give a hint of the image in the background. I then rub ink over it all lightly to blend it all into the background.

 

Have had so much fun laying with all the products I have received from Mad About Scrappin.

 

Why not head over to the shop and see what Leanne has there at the moment.

 

TFL, M x

Last minute Christmas fun

Hello all.

Back again to share with you my last Christmas card I have made for the year.

Still in love with creating themed cards using non traditionally themed paper and this years Christmas cards have been no exception.

With that in mind I have been playing around with some super yummy paper from The Robin's Nest again.

The best bit about the paper's that I chose to create this last Christmas card is that the already have plenty of sparkle to them.

I love the white glitter swirl paper from The Robin's Nest too. The main reason for me liking it it sbecause it is so easy to change the look of the paper by rubbing it with a little ink on a distressor pad. It highlights the glitter pattern and really creates a bit of dimension to the paper so easily.

Super easy card to create using of few scraps of one of my favourite paper ranges from The Robin's Nest to create the tree.

Products used -

Daisy Stripe Teal

White Glitter Swirl On White

Glitter Writing

Parisian Dew Drops

Head over to the store and check out all the products The Robin's Nest has to offer.

TFL, M x

Masculine Birthday cards

Seems December was another busy month of birthdays. Has been nice however to be able to take a break from the busyness of Christmas card making to create a couple of cards for birthdays.

Had to create a card for Nate's friends birthday.. kinda struggle at time to create cards for boys. Not that I have problems creating a card for a boy with the colour choices.. just that I don't want to have them looking too girly with the way that I embellish them. So with all this in mind I kept it simple and pulled out some scraps from my stash to create this birthday card.

Love how easy it was to embellish this card with a bit of help from some dew drops, garden twine and a Tim Holtz skull.

I also had a card to create for a special male friend who had his birthday this month too. Pulling out the scraps of some super yummy paper along with some stamps to mix up the background a bit was fun. I also had this cute little digital image that I have been wanting to play with for a while so thought it was perfect to add a bit of humour to this card.

Just a bit of a tip for everyone... if you are using rub ons, as I did for the sentiment and you find them to be very fragile.. go over them with a thin coat of dimensional magic. Not only will it give them a bit of dimension it will hold them in place nicely.

Anyway.. off to get creative..

TFL, M x

Mixing it up with Bo Bunny

Hello everyone.

Seems like ages since I have been able to share with you things I have created with goodies from Mad About Scrapping.

I love love love all the products that Leanne has for sale in the store.

Being chosen to play along on the design team has been a blessing too as everyone is so much fun to work with.

Now.. part of my design team fun was to pick some goodies to play with. Now.. I must say.. when I first went and picked the Bo Bunny Serenade paper range to play with I didn't actually have these layouts in mind or even the photos I ended up using. (I was actually going to create some masculine layouts)

However while my goodies arrived I was in love. The paper range is SOOOOOOO much nicer in real life than what I thought. Plus must say that I haven't created three layouts as quickly as I did with this paper range. I just had to play and so wanted to just keep creating with this paper range.

Now for this first layout I did you must be wondering what the multi patterned paper is.. well it isn't one piece of paper that is for sure..lol. As some of you may know I like to think outside the box and challenge myself. So with that in mind I set to work creating the multi patterned paper area on a scrap of card stock. I then cut multiple strips of the mixed patterned papers to 3" x 3/4" in size and adhered them randomly using both sides of the patterned paper in a chevron style pattern. I am most impressed with this idea myself and have repeated this process a few times myself. I have also done it to use up scraps I have had laying around. Quite effective really.

So here's what I have created...

Layout 1

 

Now for this first layout I did you must be wondering what the multi patterned paper is.. well it isnt one piece of paper that is for sure..lol. As some of you may know I like to think outside the box and challenge myself. So with that in mind I set to work creating the multi patterned paper area on a scrap of card stock. I then cut multiple strips of the mixed patterned papers to 3" x 3/4" in size and adered them randomly using both sides of the patterned paper in a chevron style pattern. I am most impressed with this idea myself and have repeated this process a few times myself. I have also done it to use up scraps I have had laying around. Quite effective really.

Layout 2

Now with this layout I really wanted to break up the bold papers just a little. I didn't want large blocks of paper and I wanted to be use as many of the patterns papers as possible. So with that in mind I was able to do this by using 4 different sized circle punches. Must say how ever that I didn't create this heart shape free hand. I started by cutting a heart out of scrap card stock and tracing it onto the card stock base where I wanted to heart to be. Then I placed the hearts randomly in the heart shape till I was happy with the mix of patterns and shape. THEN I adhered them down. This gave me a cance to mix the patterns up a bit till I was happy with them. Quite a simple background but so easy to do.

Layout 3

So for the last layout I created .. Yes as you may be able to see I am a little crazy. I had this smart idea to hand stitch all the pieces of patterned paper to the card stock base. I adhered the centre of each of the shapes to the base where I wanted them and then stitched using embroidery floss. It was a little time consuming.. 4 hours of just stitching but found it quite fun.. despite the fact I was stitching through 3 layers of paper and card stock. I am grateful that I pierced all the holes first as it made the stitching a lot either.

Lastly...

And just for a little something to use up a few of the scraps I played around and created a quick card.

Super quick and easy but love the boldness of the colours.

Why not head over to the store yourself and check out all the yummy papers yourself.

TFL. M x

Festive Friday Blog Hop

Hello all and thanks for stopping by.

 

Have been getting creative again to get me in the festive spirit with a little help from The Robin's Nest.

 

The card was super easy to create with a few scraps of The Robin's Nest papers, buttons and some Dew Drops. I had so much fun playing around with some old punches that I dug up from my stash.

 

Super quick and super easy card.

 

Head over to check out the rest of the works of art to get you in the festive too at Terri's Blog

 

TFL, Michelle 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

Playing around

Good Morning all.

 

Back again to share just a little bit of scrapping fun I have been busily creating with a little help from some products from The Robin's Nest.

 

I am so in love with the quality and versatility of these products. i have been able to create many pieces of work using these products as they suit so many different themes.

This year we went away to the beach for Easter. I had a ball playing around with the camera while we were away. Having a look back on them recently while I was looking for photos to play around with I found that the colours of quite a few photos really suited some of The Robin's Nest paper range.

I liked the fact that the paper range really help make the photo the feature of the layout. I was able to mute the paper down with a bit of stamping and inking quite easily. This also helped to create a bit of depth to the layout.

 

I must say however the most fun on the layout I had was with the teal flower. Because they are created from a heavy tissue like material they were really crying out to be scrunched, misted with gesso and then given a light mist of glimmer mist to age it a little. In the end the flower held its shape quite nicely. I am most impressed with the flowers.

 

Products used -

Calamity Jane Stripe

Calamity Jane Roses

Map Paper

Time Flies Rub on

Gold Glitter Journalling

Parisian Dew Drops

Teal Flowers

 

Why not check out the store for yourself and see all the fun products on offer.

 

TFL, M x

And we have a winner...

Good Morning all.

 

Well the time has come to announce the lucky winner from

 

 

But before I do I want to say a huge thank you to everyone that hopped along with us for this blog hop. I love all the comments that everyone left and was most excited to share with you my project for the hop.

 

So without further ado...

 

The winner on my blog for a $10 voucher with The Robin's Nest is.....

 

....

...

..

.

Tracy M #6773

 

HUGE congrats Tracy !!!

 

To claim your prize send a message to robinsnestscrap@gmail.com

 

Thank you again everyone for hopping along.

 

TFL, M x

 

 

All that sparkles

Hello all.

Wow.. what a start to the month it has been.

With The Robin's Nest and Helmar blog hop things certainly have been very craft inspired that is for sure.

With that in mind I have been busy with birthday cards again. Seems that this month is just as busy with birthdays for friends and family.

This time around it was very close friends birthday that I have been busy creating for. So with a little help from some products from The Robin's Nest I was able to create a very elegant birthday card.

I also played around with some flourish stamps to created my stamped flourish on some recycled card. Then used the same flourish stamp to highlight parts of the heart. Just because your patterned paper is already patterned doesn't mean that you cant mix it up a little to tie it into your design.

  

The Robin's Nest products used :

Blue Awning Glitter

Daisy Stripe Teal

Glitter Writing

Bliss Ribbon

In Love In Italy Dew Drops

I had a lot of fun playing around with this card and it was super easy and quick to create thanks to products from The Robin's Nest.

Why not check out what they have in store.

Happy Crafting, M x

Getting into the holiday spirit with a hop !

Hi, Michelle here.

I am lucky enough to be a designer for The Robin's Nest AND Helmar designer! 

I was most excited to be able to play along for this hop team two amazing products!

So... seeings as how the theme of this hop is "Home for the Holidays" I got busy creating some cards all ready for Christmas. I do like to be organised and love to send homemade cards every year.

However.. as most of you may know I am NOT a traditional colour themed scrapper.
I tend to prefer to make cards out of whatever paper I have on hand and them make it suit the theme.

So I dug into my design team boxes from The Robin's Nest and Helmar and created four cards from A4 recycled card.

Because I like to keep the cards quick and simple when I have to create quite a few I tend to make the card 4" x 4" in size. That way they fit nicely into a standard size C6 envelope too for postage if they have a bit of dimension to them.

The Robin's Nest Products used:
Fleur French Vanilla
Loves Me Glitter
White Glittered Flourish
Dew Drops - In Love in Italy

Helmar Products used:
Helmar Tape Runner
Helmar Gemstone Glue
Helmar 450 Quick Dry
Helmar Liquid Scrapdots

Now just for stopping by on this blog hop you could WIN !!!!

  Each Designer in will be choosing ONE person who leaves a comment on their blog

So.. for just stopping by my blog you could win

 a $10 gift certificate to purchase product from The Robin's Nest.

AND

You could also win a
 
Grand Prize $20 gift certificate with Helmar


The contest will run for one week.


So what are waiting for ??? !!!! ...

Don't forget to leave your comment here to be in it to WIN !

Then hop on over to Beck Beattie's Blog to see what creations she has to share with you.

Looking for some inspiration this weekend ???

Creating with templates

Hello everyone.

Back again to share what else I have been busy creating thanks to the yummy goodies sent to my by Leanne at Mad about Scrappin.

This month I got a chance to play around with some templates.

Now I was itching to play with these when Leanne mentioned sending them.

Now.. I haven't personally had much of a chance to play around with templates much myself. I have dabbled with them with embossing and with paint and ink a little. So when I received these templates I decided to challenge myself a little and must say I had a blast playing with them.

For my first layout I played around with two inks. I mixed them together and used one of the templates to create my own patterned card stock. By varying the pressure on my blender I was able to make the pattern come out strongly or fade off just slightly. I also used a pearl ink so that the pattern also has a slight sheen to it when it moves.

Now for the next layout I really made a mess. I absolutely LOVE this clock template. It is now my best friend and I hope to be able to use it over and over. I have really created lotsa layers on this base using the template, recycled card as my base and some texture paste. Now it did take a bit to dry using the texture paste but was SO worth all the effort. Then once that was dry I gesso sprayed it all lightly and misted the whole base with several different glimmer mist colours. So much mess made but so much fun. The template really helps the background pop!

 

Just a quick note to remember too... don't be daunted by templates.. you don't have to use the whole template and mix it up and try things out yourself too.

 

Thanks again Leanne for getting me to play with the templates they were so much fun.

 

Don't forget to check out the goodies at Mad About Scrappin yourself.

 

TFL, M x

Two cards sent with much love

Just a quick share of two cards that I have made recently.

 

No particular reason ... just to let someone special know I was thinking about them.

 

TFL, M x

SWV October Sketch Challenge

After circles for last month, I thought we'd go with something a little more linear for this month.

 

I've also included the option for one big photo, or four smaller photos.

 

The choice is totally up to you,

October Sketch Challenge - designed by Julianne McKenna-De Lumen

(otherwise known as Jules The Bling Princess)

 

and here's my example

 

 

I hope you enjoy this sketch! I cannot wait to see all your fabulous creations.

Please send your completed layouts to scrapbookkitswithjules@gmail.com

 

Entries close midnight 31st October 2012, and a winner will be announced a few days afterwards

(and will receive a Scrapbook Kits class kit for their own enjoyment).

Happy scrapping to all!!!

A little bit of sparkle

Hello all.

Well this month proves to be a busy month in our household on the birthday front.

Two of my children celebrate their birthdays this month along with 5 other people in our family.

So bearing that in mind I have gotten in super early this year with my card preparations.

However this year has been super easy with all the yummy goodies that came in my Robin's Nest Design Team pack.

This time around I have played around with the following goodies

Pink Glitter Cardstock

Glitter Viva la France

Fairy Dust Dew Drops

Viva la France Stickers

So using all these goodies I set to work creating a sparkly girlie card for my nieces birthday at the end of this month.

Certainly didn't take long to create and love the end result with the glittered cardstock.

Why not have a play around with some products from The Robin's Nest today.

TFL, M x

Love Canvas

Hello everyone.

Michelle here from Adelaide, South Australia here to share with you what I have been busy creating.

Just recently I was lucky enough to be able to head up to Townsville in  the northern part of Australia to visit someone who is very special to me.

When I was planning my trip I decided that I wanted to be able to give a little gift as a memento of my visit. So with a little help from some of my favourite Helmar goodies I got creative.

While I was creating I had to bear in mind that I didn't that I didn't want what I was creating to be too girly. I also wanted to play around with many textures and decided to create a canvas.

I created my first dimensional layer on the base of the canvas using my napkin and Helmar Acid Free Glue wash technique (1 part Helmar Acid Free Glue to 3 parts water). Then it was a matter of white washing the napkin base when the napkin layer was adhered and dry.

I then used a plastic laser cut template and some texture paste to create another layer of dimension to the canvas. Once the texture paste was dry I was able to paint the texture paste with some iridescent gold H20 LuminArte. I then added a layer of Helmar Krystal Kote Fixative to seal it all till I put on the next stage.

Then with a little bit of help from some Helmar Krystal Kote Fixative I was able to then add multiple layers of both water based and permanent ink without the worry of them smudging and smearing at any stage.

Once I was happy with all the base layers I had created for my background I then gave the whole base a coat of Helmar Krystal Kote Matte. This helped to seal it all and also too any shine from the Helmar adhesives out to create a complete matte background.

Then the process began of adhering and layering my title and the embellishments.

Now being a canvas, which had multiple layers and mediums on the base, I wanted to make sure that the embellishments stuck hard and fast. So with a bit of help from some Helmar 450 this process was quite easy. I even found that I was able to adhere my metal flowers (mwah to Rae Cooper for these beauties) with ease.

Now to finish off this canvas and give it the final touches I adhered some dew drops to the centre of my metal flowers using some Helmar Gemstone Glue. It dried nice and clear so that the metal of the flowers was able to shine through the clear dew drops.

Now it was a bit of a labour of love waiting for a few layers to dry, but ultimately with a bit of help from my trusted Helmar adhesives I was able to share some loving around.

I know that my gift will stand the test of time without things falling off thanks to some great Helmar adhesives.

Why not have a play around with some Helmar products yourself and see what you can create for someone special in your life like I did.

TFL, M x

Creating with a masucline theme

Hello all, Michelle here to share what I have been up to lately on behalf of The Robin's Nest.

I was lucky enough to be sent some of the new Flame range to play with.

At first I must admit I wasn't too sure how I was going to play around with it.

Here's the products that I played around with this time around.

Mocha Trail Dew Drops

 Black Card stock

 Flame Border

Flames

Damask Black/White 

I had been creating a lot of very feminine layouts at the time and creating a more masculine layout using this paper range seemed in order.

So with that in mind I got messy again. I played around once again with some recycled card, Helmar Acid Free Glue and some patterned paper napkins to create the base of my layout. I then got a bit crazy with gesso spray and glimmer mists to lightly mist and glimmer up the base.

I then created a decorative stitched border to the layout using invisible thread ad seed beads which i hand stitched.. yes I know a little crazy but I love the end effect so the effort was justified I think.

Then it was just a case of inking and layers The Robin's Nest patterned papers till I was happy with them.

I also hand cut the flame from Flame Border patterned paper and adhered over the photo. I added some dimensional adhesive to the flames to give them just that little extra gloss and dimension.

So here is the layout I created

The photo part of the layout also lifts to allow for journalling underneath.

I must say that I am now loving the Flame paper range since I have started to play with it. I cannot wait to be able to play around with this again.

Dont' forget to head over to The Robin's Nest Blog to see what everyone has been busy creating!

Happy creating, M x