Advent Calendar - Tiny Jars

Thanks to all my friends and family who saved their tiny jam jars for me. I have now finished the Advent Calendar I wanted to make with them, it's now complete and ready for 1st December.

The first job was to collect 25 mini jam jars and to clean them and soak off the labels.
Then I searched for a suitable box to present them in and found this Mache lidded box in Hobbycraft.

Then I gathered my Doodlebug Designs Inc. papers and stickers I already owned and purchased some more stickers and a 6" x 6" pad.

Each jar lid was painted with Humbrol Enamel Paint in a selection of colours to match the papers.

During the last few months I have been making jams and chutney, each time I made some I put some onto one of the tiny jars. I then filled the rest with sweets and other small gifts.

The jars were each decorated with a circle cut using a circle punch and a 0.5cm x 14.5cm strip of paper for the rim of the lid and a 2cm x 14cm strip to wrap around the jar.

 

 

The box was a little bigger than I needed, so I made a panel for the centre using chipboard and duct tape. It made somewhere to hide another gift too. Then I painted the box with Distress Paint before covering the box inside and out with the 12" x 12" papers.

Each jar needed a number and for these I chose wooden numerals from Hobbycraft and painted them with Distress Paints.


Then it was time to have fun with the Doodlebug stickers and Nuvo Crystal Drops!

The words 'Advent calendar were added to the lid with some glittery American Craft Thickers.

Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Wedding Day - Jenn & Titus

The third wedding I was asked to make a card for this summer was for Jenn and Ian (Titus).

This time I used papers and letters from Basic Grey's Olivia collection.
My 'Bride and Groom' were also a Simply Print download from Lily of the Valley
The die for the card is from Crafter's Companion and creates this decorative aperture which is ideal for weddings.

I added butterflies using a Martha Stewart 3 in 1 punch, with tiny flat back pearls. The latter were also added to the flower centres. The Martha Stewart frond punch was used to add leaves to the flowers. A little sparkel was created with some Crystal Stickles.

As before I made Jenn and Ian a scrabble letter frame, this one was 12" x 12" and came from Hobbycraft. Lots of words which have meaning to the happy couple. 

Best wishes to Ian and Jenn

Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Mirror Image

Inspired by several different layout ideas I have gathered together in my mind, I created this layout which I later adapted for the Papermaze crop. It is a photo of my daughter Catherine from a photo shoot she had back in March 2013 - this one is for Catherine's album.

I used:
Bazzill in white & blackbirdPatterned paper (for the original BoBunny - Head Over Heels)
Patterned paper for kit page Dear Lizzy, Fine & Dandy – Stay Wild, Cheerful Chatter & Bright Bows together with  Amy Tangerine, Rise & Shine - ClaireMoonlight & Kaleidoscope Memory Box Butterfly dies Sizzix Sizzlits Decorative Strip Die - Tattered Flower GarlandMartha Stewart Vintage Floral (Deco Flowers) Punch Around the Page (just the border punch)Martha Stewart 3 in 1 Butterfly punchStampin’ Up scalloped border punch Crafters Workshop stencil – Mini SpecimensDylusions Black Marble spray inkStickles Glitter Glue - Black Diamond and SilverDistress Ink pad – Worn LipstickAmerican Crafts - black sprinkles (glitter) Thickers letter stickers for 'IMAGE'Hobbycraft - silver glitter letter & number stickers for 'MIRROR'

Here is the second layout created for the Papermaze crop using the Dear Lizzy papers:

Hope you enjoyed the crop those of you who could make it. It is always lovely to see so many variations of the layout come together. We had a great day as usual thanks Vanessa.
Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Nature Study x 3

In the end I created this layout three times, all slightly different. This first one uses a photograph of my cousin's daughter Rosie photographing the poppies on holiday in Tenby last summer.

This one will go into Rosie's album and was my initial design for the Papermaze crop kit.

Bazzill Cardstock in Glass Slipper & Smooth white

Patterned paper - Maja Designs (version 1)
Pebbles, Home Grown, Flower Garden (versions 2 and 3)
5 Black Dew Drops

Sewing machine with Black threadDistress Stain Barn Door
Fine Black Marker Pen
Making Memories Magnetic date stamp
Black Ink pad
1” Circle punch
Water Spritzer
Heat tool
3D foam pads
White letters for 'Nature' - Basic Grey
Black letters for 'Study' - Hobbycraft (Versions 1 and 2)
Black letters for 'Study' - Cricut (version 3)

This is the version for the Papermaze Crop kit for August, made up for the crop using papers and products from the shop.

I chose the patterned paper for it's blue pattern, but love the floral pattern on the reverse and wondered how it would work with a black and white photo - here is the result:

For the last version I cut the word 'Study' using the Cricut from black cardstock and inked the white letters with black ink to make them stand out.

Hope you like it Rosie

Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Clara May

Here is my layout for this month's design team gallery over at Scrapology 

This is my great aunt Clara May Holder

The journalling reads:

"Clara May Holder

Born in 1900 to Frederick Henry Holder and
Emma Jane Florence Holder née  Williams.
Clara was sister to my grandfather Ernest, she was the eighth
child of fourteen.
Born in Bromley, Kent, she lived with her parents
and siblings at 120 Southlands Road.
Clara married Thomas Vincent Marsh in
1931 - Kensington, London."

We've chosen a stunning layout by Julianne, The Bling Princess.

Here is Julianne's original layout and our sketch:

For my page I used:

The Cricut and the Lacy Labels cartridge to cut all the label shapes

Patterned papers from Kaisercraft's Periwinkle collection

Dies Sizzix - Sizzlit Tattered Florals Decorative Strip

Letter Stickers - Foam white Thickers by American Crafts
Chipboard shapes from Hobbycraft
Acrylic Paint - Gold and Cream

Lace, a bow and ribbon from my stash
Colorbox Chalk Inks
Flat-backed pearls
Half a clock face from a previous layout

Punches by EK Success and Martha Stewart

Thanks for looking

I will be back soon with two cards made with the leftover scraps of paper from this layout.

Lynn x

ALPHAS !

Our cropping group the Blossoms went away for our annual retreat weekend in March. We usually take a small gift along for one-another, this year I made these initial alphas as we has been looking at photo prop ideas.

I saw an article in an old copy of Creating Keepsakes Magazine:

I made an initial for each of my scrapping friends going to the retreat. So between Hobbycraft and The Range, I managed to obtain all our initials in 8" paper mache 3D letters. I painted each letter with acrylic paint and covered the front with patterned papers, then added names and embellishments from my stash. Each one was created in that persons favourite colours:

... 3 x A's, ...

... 3 x L's ...

... 3 x J's ...

... an S ...


... a W ...

... and a G.

 This combination didn't allow for any clever spelling out of words, but I did my best! 

... weekend away was arranged for the ...

We went to East Park on 21st March which happened to be  

Anita's birthday - any excuse for cake and celebrations!

We had a great time enjoying ourselves,

it's the ...

... on theses weekends!

Much time was spent ... 

sing & laughing

so we ended up with ...

... ache!

We set off in our cars packed to bursting with our ...

... and we tried not to ...

... behind.

Once we arrived we stayed within the impressive ...

s

of Easthampsted Park.

Some of us with out initials

We also had lots of other props!

Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Happy Birthday Elaine!

Elaine and Robert spent a weekend with us recently and we took a bike ride into the Rendlesham Forest. We were fascinated but all the mushrooms we saw and so I thought it would make a good theme for a birthday card for Elaine.

Patterned papers - Basic Grey - Oxford

Cardstock - Bazzill

Ribbon - Hobbycraft

Punches - Fiskers

Rub-on greeting - Making Memories

Stamps - Lili of the Valley

Pens - Promarkers

Other - gems, perfect pearls, chalk ink.

The mushroom is Amanita muscaria  known as Fly Agaric.  They are beautiful but Deadly poisonous.

Remembering a lovely weekend,

Happy Birthday Elaine!