Birds Nest

Hello crafty people....I have been busy busy in my little craft room creating all kinds of stuff...some   for Paper Lane and some for me.  Loved making the Prima Tag (click on the name if you want to see the post) using the left over scraps from the Life Time Collection.  I also made several gifts for my daughters birthday (post to come soon) and a birds nest from this basket thingie...

I bought this wrought iron like basket at Daiso last year some time with the intention of putting it to use as my bits and bobs container which I need when crafting.  But of course the holes in the wire just rendered it useless for that and I did not pursue any ideas on how to utilize it at the time!  I put it aside and while cleaning my room last weekend I found it and placed it within view to do somethign with it. For those of you who know me personally you know I love birds and bird gardens etc...by the way did you see the bird house garden I created??  Click on the name to see the post!

Anyway I got the idea to create a birds nest in the basket while I was browsing pinterest.  I love it and I keep adding bits and bobs to it...seems the idea to have it as a bits and bobs container has some truth in it after all :-)

So take a look and let me know what you think....................

I used strings of burlap, old potpourri (I never throw anything away), twigs, an assortment of artificial flowers, some eggs, bit of shiny bling.  Obviously the two birds - I hot glued the green bird on the rim of the basket and the red/pink one inside the nest near the eggs.

It is so pretty - photographs just does not do it justice.

Family Layout

The beautiful Life Time paper line by Prima inspired me to scrap a family photograph taken on my birthday a year ago at Bab Al Shams.  With half our family living in South Africa it was and is a pleasure when we are all together.  I love this photograph taken before we started to feast and enjoy the nights entertainment.

 This collection is so suitable for a family layout what with one page containing words like family, memories, together, cherish, etc. and another with tags and sentiments among other things.  I used software on my computer to change the original colours of the photograph to various hues of brown - it suited the paper tones perfectly.  The tag with the green ribbon bow slides behind the layers of paper - I will use this tag for my journaling - the black alphas read Bab Al Shams 30-12-2011.

The 12x12 sheet I hot glued onto black chipboard.  I tore the paper somewhere in the middle, added some soft netting I sometimes use on my layouts  and a bit of matching lace to stick out slightly.  I used two layers of patterned paper from the collection before adhering the photograph.  Tore into the paper at the left hand corner and curled it so that they followed some kind of order.

I used many different masks, templates, pastes, glimmer mists and distress inks to alter the sheet I chose for my layout - yeah then I went and layered all my embellishments and now the effects are only peeping out :-)  I just had to add the camel for the desert effect!

The chipboard heart is by dusty attic and frames all our smiling faces beautifully.  I used various dabbers on the chipboard.

The black key is also a Prima embellishment.  I clustered 4 flowers from the collection and placed the pink flower on top - I love how the petals peed out! The little tag that reads smile I fussy cut from one of the sheets of paper.

The flowers are also from the collection.  With the exception of the lace and 3 material flowers everything I used in this layout is available at Paper Lane including the camel.  There are other matching elements available in this collection; it is beautiful and perfect for layouts, cards, mini albums, anything.  Pop into the store and get yours now!

I hope you enjoyed viewing my layout...until next time happy crafting!  Janine

Altered Prima Tag

Today I am blogging about a tag I made.  I was planning to gift this tag but decided to keep it - I totally love how this tag turned out!

Take a look...

 I used the Prima doll tag and Tim Holtz jump rings with eyelets.

 Every embellishment on this tag is Prima

 ...mod podge

 ...texture paste

 ...gesso

 ...paints and dabbers

 ...glimmer mists

 ...distress inks

Love love love it!!

Altered Photo Frame

The Life Time Collection by Prima is so versatile I felt inspired to alter a photo frame this time displaying a photograph of my husband instead of my daughters.  The papers is so versatile it can be used with both feminine and masculine projects.  I am totally in love with these papers - they are awesome!  My blog will be overflowing with projects using this collection; so keep a look out!

I used a normal cheap wooden frame; I chose this frame because the wood surface was broad and not narrow like most - this space gave me plenty of room to experiment with some mixed media techniques.  Of I started by applying a coat of gesso, then white paint and then another coat of gesso - I wanted to really prime the surface before starting all my layers of texture, mediums, mists and embellishments.

I cut out the petals individually from the flowers the "Blue Bayou" sheet and adhered them with mod podge at the top left hand corner, in the middle of the the left panel and at the bottom right hand corner.  I used Martha Stewart texture paste on small strips of a thin netting I found, a left over piece of lace and some bubble wrap.  

I positioned my elements with mod podge and once dry covered all of it with a layer of gesso I left the gesso to dry for an entire day before spraying various glimmer mists and paint dabbers.

On the left panel I positioned a Prima flower spray so that it gives the effect of being outside and inside the frame. The wooden bird and branch are also Prima embellishments.  I cut a dusty attic heart shaped die in two and as you can see by the image below, I positioned them on different places within the frame.  

On the right hand panel I adhered antique brass loops and hung a Prima wooden key on it.  The flowers are all from the Life Time Collection and the wording/phrases all over the frame are fussy cut from the "Familia" sheet.  

I love how the completed look is feminine but totally suits a male photograph too.  The flower collection has browns, grays and blacks too so I choose the black specifically because hubby's favourite colour is black.

I hope I inspired you to create your own photo frame...happy crafting!  Janine

Dubai Word Book

Hey hey scrappy friends...here is a fun project I wish to share with you!

This DUBAI word book with awesome matching themed papers is designed and sold by Paper Lane. The decorative matching 12x12 papers depict watermarks of all the famous landmarks and tourist attractions of Dubai.  They are pretty awesome with tones of blue, gold, red and greens; double sided and lovely to work with.  

So without further blabber, let me show you how I decorated the word book:

The image above shows the book at a glance. I mostly chose blue as my base colour to decorate the chipboard pages. Dubai is always summery and what better way to decorate than to depict that. Sunflowers throughout reflect the sun and lots of colour in flowers to portray summer and fun in the sun!

On the cover and D of Dubai I coloured a chipboard palm tree and camel with distress inks; added some bright sunny flowers, ribbons, fibres, charms and edged the chipboard with gold glitter.

On the reverse side I made a little envelope held together with a green mini peg; it opens up to reveal a journaling spot.  The mini envelope is only glued down a the top so trip paraphernalia can be inserted under the envelope.

I love this page! On the page I stenciled a sun with glimmer mist. before decorating.  The red paper on the die cut is also from the Dubai paper collection. What is Dubai without a palm tree!!

This is my favourite page! I fussy cut the camels from a page in the collection, highlighted the gold on the camels with glitter and only glued down the sides so it is easy to slide photos behind the camels. The dark reddish scalloped shape helps to reflect the night in a desert sky. I could not resist the silver moon in the corner. I bought 3 decorative camels at a tourist kiosk and ladies...how cute are they!!

The image above shows all the fibres and ribbons I knotted around the binding rings. I chose colours that are scattered throughout the book and added the green and red ribbon to reflect the national colours of Dubai. Of course who can resist adding the Burj Al Arab keyring found all over!.

Ladies this makes an awesome gift for family and friends who come to visit. I will be using this book to record photo's of my sister's visit last year. So pop into the store, buy the book and the papers and do it...it is easy! Scrapbooking is such fun. See you all soon...