megs garden nature book by sue smyth

Natures Field Guide 

By Sue Smyth 

Nothing inspires me more than nature, so the awesome 

Butterflies and Natures Wonders Stamp collection

available on Megs Garden website was an instant

spark for me.

I have combined the stamps with the Butterflies

and Natures Wonders paper kit to make this

Field guide to Natures Wonders.

And this time I really wanted to do a hand stitched binding

so be sure to look below for a mini tutorial on 

how to bind a book.

The gorgeous butterflies have been glued to white cardstock

then fussy cut, spray with spray glitter and adhere 

by the centres only so the wings

can be curved upwards in flight.

I have stamped the title onto white cardstock and overlayed 

it onto a fancy metallic frame.

Add lots of paper flowers from Meg's Garden to 

create a focal point at the top of the cover.

Handy Hint

Dry brush the centres of paper flowers 

with a darker pink ink for a

more realistic look.

You just need a small stiff brush

I have used old twigs covered in lichen

from the garden to 

create a frame. 

My new favorite tool is a mini 

hacksaw!

I have cut a panel from the paper kit 

to insert inside with 3 D foam tape.

And adhered the lot onto a panel

of cardstock with a hand stitched edges.

Add trinket bee's and metal corners, some fibres

and there you have a cover.

It can be used as an journal or mini album

I have left the inside pages rather

plain so that photo's or ephemera 

can be placed over top.

Here are some of my pages, I have simply

used the papers as a collage and 

incorporated stamps when ever I wanted. 

Back Cover 

First cut chipboard to 11 x 14 cms to form covers and cover with 

Butterfly garden papers.

Cut as many pages as you like, mine measure 14 x 22 cm

 and I have 8 panels. 

Perforate the centre with a metal piercing tool.

Stamp and ink randomly around the sides with sepia

ink and a script stamp. 

Now sew centres with brown floss and a sturdy needle.

This takes some time but is worth it!

Stitch all sides with a back stitch so it show on the spine

and the middle of the folded page.

Hold together with a bull dog clip so they

are placed neatly and will not move.

Now over sew at 7 points on the spine with floss, making

sure to catch every folded edge.

When you are happy with the stitching,over stitch with green for

a contrast and adhere covers to first and last page.

Add stained seam binding under covers or as 

I have over them and cover with decoration.

Materials

 Butterflies and Natures Garden paper kit

Butterflies and Natures Wonders Rubber Stamps

Butterfly Garden at Night paper

Meg's Garden Small paper roses

Meg's Garden bee trinket

Meg's Garden corner trinkets

Meg's Garden Hardware trinkets

Happy Crafting all

Sue 

imaginarium post

By the Sea Canvas and

Butterfly Canister 

By Sue Smyth 

Hi Bloggers

I have a few projects to share with you today, a Mermaid Canvas 

called By the Sea, a Sweet Easter Bird branch and 

lastly a Butterfly Canister 

The first two actually don't use as much chipboard

as I am used to, I love to use lots, so this

is a bit different for me.

To get the very ornate borders, I have glued two 

cheap plastic frames to a canvas. The gap 

in between I have filled with chipboard shapes for texture..

In the centre of the frame I have used

texture paste and a stencil to create texture and a spot

for my resin mermaid to sit.

The title is chipboard alphabet embossed with 

aged gold powder and rubbed over with black ink.

I have also snipped up a piece of chipboard to

 create a net like effect above and below the mermaid, I have 

added small pearls to the intersections of the net.

Once I have glued all of the frames and chipboard down, I have 

painted the lot with gesso, then sprayed with 

turquoise, blue and green dylusions.

Dry and add more layers to get a deep effect. When it is

dry rub over the raised areas with gold metallic paint

Snip up Loolabelle's circular cross chipboard, paint with metallic blue. 

While wet sprinkle with turquoise glitter. Allow to dry

and decorate with small pearls

At the bottom of the small frame, I have added lots of shells,

dyed muslin and a small bottle filled with metallic seed beads.

Materials 

Butterfly Canister 

I love storage, so for my next project I have made 

a canister that I can store ribbons, flowers etc in.

I have started with a corrugated cylinder, but you could

just as easily adhere corrugated card to an ordinary mache box.

Spray the whole canister with matt black spray paint

then rub over with gold metallic paint.

Kates Doily chip is embossed with aged 

gold embossing powder then spritzed with 

black dylusions and I have wiped off the 

excess

The pearl strip around the edge have been sprayed with 

matt black paint too as

I wanted them to be black!

The trim on the bottom is chipboard

sprayed matt black.

Then rub over with graphite inka gold

apply gold liquid pearls and while 

wet sprinkle with a little gold glitter, for a 

nice glittered raised look.

I have added pins as extra antenna !

To make the butterfly, first spray with 

matt black spray paint, then rub

the centre with blue, purple and graphite 

inka golds, keep adding until you have the 

look you are after.

I always like at iridescent look and combining 

these colours will give you that.

Then add lots of gold glitter glue to the edges.

Finish with lots of iridescent seed beads in the

centre 

Materials 

Bonus Project

Sweet Easter Bird decoration 

This project is just a little bit of fun, to make the nest

I have cut chipboard into lots of thin strips.

Wet it and scrunch up into a nest shape.

then adhere onto Chipboard circle shape. 

Dry brush with gesso, spray with brown 

spray ink, then spray with glitter spray.

To decorate the leaves, I have painted them white

with gesso and then dabbed Whipped spackle over top.

When dry spritz with olive green glimmer mist or any

green spray.

Add lots of flowers, moss, pearls, a bird, her eggs and tinsy

mushrooms.

This will sit on the table for Easter.

Happy Crafting