Keep an eye out

Just letting you all know I will be teaching at the Brisbane papercraft show in June. As a long held goal, I am really pleased. I shall share some sneak peeks in the coming months. But one little clue it is off the page!!!!

Easter Treats

Happy Easter Everybody

Today I am sharing a little Easter Joy, these little tubes of fun are made from the humble toilet roll insert. Cover roll with bazzill, embossed if you like, then a circlet of card in the centre, ribbon and make a little nest from wood wool, pop in a little bird and make up some roses with Bitty Blossoms. I am lucky to have a punch that is exactly the size of the roll, to make the lids on the ends. But you can use a nested circle, and trim it down to the right size. Just insert a brad to tie the ribbon pull around. Then fill them with Easter treats, make sure they are wrapped though, or pop them in a cello bag, if you are worried about germs lol. 

Graphic 45 Secret Garden envelope book

Here is a cute and versatile book that I am teaching at Paper Trenz in April. This would be a great present for a gardener, or any body who wants to store quotes, keepsakes or photos. I am using the gorgeous new range from Graphic 45 Secret garden.  Ring the girls at Paper Trenz and book in to avoid disappointment.

Finnabair Class

Just had to share what we did in Finnabair's class yesterday, I love how we all come up with different layouts, no two the same. And everyone seemed happy with that! And barely a flower in sight lol. As you all know I love mixed media so it was not stretch, but not as pretty as I usually do, so there are lessons to be learnt there lol.

the second item is a canvas, I love the texture and ideas that we played with, and again everyone's was different. Loads of product and trinkets to play with I was in heaven.

Best Friends

Here is a layout of my son and our then new puppy, he was besotted by her, and still is. I have created my own background from Vanilla Bazzill and cut the centre out, this is a little trick that Karen Shady uses and I was inspired to give it a try lol. I have also used the die d lites, for the grass and corner flourish, lots of bunting and yes a few roses, there goes my resolution to not use flowers lol. Check out the materials list on
http://downunderdirectinspiration.blogspot.com.au/

Look out for tomorrow as I am going today to Finnabair's class and hope to have 2 beautiful projects to post and share with you, I have seen what other friends have done and it looks awesome.

Show layout

A quick post today to share the layout I taught in Melbourne last weekend, at the Scrapbook and Papercraft Expo. This is for those ladies who did not get to finish it, also you can find a full list of instructions in Australian Scrapbook Ideas issue 19 out now.

This is Mixed Media meets main stream with loads of little techniques that you will want to use over and over again

Little chicks

I am sharing a page that has been in my head for a few months, and finally I have finished it. Its a very mixed media layout that I loved doing and am happy with. To start I have prepared just a sheet of vanilla bazzil as if it were a canvas, with sprays and spritz, often I use a sheet of vanilla as my scrap piece when spraying chip or flowers and use this as a base for a layout(colour already added)

Then I have slapped on lots of texture paost and wound string into it, along with some flowers and egg shell. This will take days to dry, and then you can commence adding layers of colour. drops and sprays, I wanted to create the colours of robins eggs, and quail eggs, with splotches and subtle blue.

The brown feathers are painted with any brown ink, I have then applied copper glitter to the wet paint and touched the edges with green lumieres for shimmer.

It was then a matter of selecting from Imaginariums range of feathers and leaves to create a kind of scene that you might find a birds nest, like in a meadow. I have mounted the small photos on sturdy chip and sanded the edges so they could sit well on the textured surface. For the dandelion I have inked it with distress inks then applied dimensional magic, sprinkled the top with micro beads, allowed it to dry and then rubbed gesso over areas of detail. The Peacock feather is brown Lumieres paint with micro beads and gold paint rubbed over them, same technique different look.

The word cherish I have coated in copper lumieres or you could use copper inka gold and swiped the top with gesso so that it matches the rest of the faded elements on the page. Little items I have used are beads glued to the layout and  a swipe of gesso and ink, feathers, small eggs painted with gesso and dabbed with detail, small mushrooms I have cut one in half so that it was not too thick and fuffy fibre which has been wound in with the string. And of course the eggshell is applied directly to the cardstock as texture. If you have a go at doing something like this I advise just play and go with the flow it is such fun and you never know what you will come up with .lol

Altered Shoe

There really isn't much I can say about this off the page item, as I think it speaks for itself, a very pretty piece of frippery lol This came down to Melbourne with me to the Papercraft show, so it is well traveled. 

This a valentines day center piece, could be used for a wedding or birthday anything you like. 

I have found an extremely high set of shoes in Kmart, I would never wear them lol. They had a lovely caramel suede surface, which of course I painted with gesso and texture paste, but allowed bits of the suede to show through. Then I have painted the whole piece with dimensional magic and drenched it with white glitter. I love to use glitter as a medium not just a highlight.  Lots of bling and pearls to the shoe itself, which is again swiped with gesso and then spritzed for a hint of colour. Of course I have the other shoe so look out for what I do with that, I have a red glitter concept in mind lol