Summer Holiday Craft - Day 8

Todays Summer Holiday Craft came from www.paper-toy.fr . I downloaded some free finger puppets which we printed onto white card and Lara made up.

Summer Holiday Craft - Day 7

Today Lara and I both made Glass Pendant Necklaces from an idea on the sabbyinsuburbia blog originally found via Pinterest.

All the materials were bought on Ebay apart from the papers which came from my stash.

I bought transparent glass cabochons 20mm x 20mm squares,

glue on silver bales,

ball chain

and ball chain connectors.

We chose some scrapbook papers. I chose quite organic designs (leaves and flowers) whilst Lara chose animals (Cats, Dogs and Elephants), The glass squares were glued onto the front of the paper with Diamond Glaze.

 When the glue had dries we cut out the squares.

We then coated the back of the squares with more Diamond Glaze to seal them.

When the squares were once again dry, we glued the bales onto the back of the squares.

All that was left then was to thread the ball chain through the bales.

Summer Holiday Craft - Day 6

Today was Decopatch day. I gave Lara a large paper mache letter 'C' and some smaller letters spelling out the word 'HOME' and she covered them with white and gold tissue. Unfortunately I haven't got any work in progress photos and the HOME letters still need some more work on them, but the letter 'C' was finished and now stands on our window ledge.

Summer Holiday Craft - Day 5

On Friday Lara made some 'Origami Winking Eyes' using instructions found on krokotak.com (Found on Pinterest).

These were really easy to fold and colour and Lara made several.

Summer Holiday Crafts - Day 4

On Thursday we used a tutorial on craftpassion.com (found via Pinterest) for a zip-itself purse. Lara has a pencil case and a bag which zip-into themselves so we were keen to try and make one our self. The tutorial is not for the faint hearted! Boy did we stress over making this and will NOT be making another!

We used a 20" zip and a 20" piece of animal print patterned ribbon.

All was going well until the last step where we had to finish it off. The purse should have been a tetrahedron but we decided to make it rectangular instead. Lara's please with the finished purse and it works. It can be unzipped to form one long strip or zipped up to make a cute purse. We decided not to line the purse.

Summer Holiday Crafts - Day 3

Wednesday's craft came from Crafty Kids 101 blog (found on Pinterest) Lara made tubular bracelets from clear acrylic tube and beads.

I bought clear acrylic tubing in two different diameters (8mm and 5mm) from Ebay and we raided Lara's bead box for some beads that would fit inside the 8mm tube. 1m of each diameter of tubing on Ebay cost approx £1.99 pm and made 4 bracelets.

Beads were fed into the 8mm tube and then the ends were joined by pushing a 1" piece of the 5mm tube into each end. We could have filled the tube with beads or hundreds and thousands or glitter or anything small enough to fit inside.

Summer Holiday Crafts - Day 2

On Tuesday we used another kit from The Works - Robot Bobble-Heads. The kit contained everything needed to build 8 robot Bobble-Heads and at just £1.99 (RRP £6.00) I think it would be an ideal stocking filler. 

Lara simply Cut out the shapes, folded, glued and assembled them - easy as that. 

Summer Holiday Crafts - Day 1

Regular readers of my blog will know that each summer I try and come up with craft projects to keep Lara occupied. Because of our holidays we weren't able to start the projects until this week, But, better late than never!

On Monday we used a £1.49 'Create Your Own Bunting' kit from The Works. The Works is a place where I have bought craft kits and supplies in past years and this year I was able to pick up a couple more kits. 

Lara glued the bunting shapes to some of my older scrapbooking papers and then cut them out.

When the 25 shapes were all cut out she decorated them with letters and shapes cut from scraps of card stock on the Craft Robo and then strung them all together to hang in her room.

Scrapology - August Card Challenge

Last week the August Card Challenge went live on Scrapology.  Design team member Sandra challenges everyone to create a card this month with a 'Milestones' theme - a special birthday, anniversary, etc. 

The design team usually know several months in advance what the monthly challenges are so for this months challenge I was able to make an Emerald Wedding Anniversary card for my parents anniversary in June,.

I decided to only just the colours white and emerald green on my card and found some gorgeous green glittery card from Dovecraft and a scrap of green ribbon in my ribbon box. 

From white card I die cut a beautifully intricate tree shape on the Craft Robo and made this sparkly with white ultra fine glitter. The tree was stuck onto a piece of white card which I had already printed my greeting onto. I them punched hearts from the green glitter card to decorate the tree and glued a ribbon bow on the tree trunk. The whole thing was then matted on more green glitter card then onto a white card blank.

I was pleased with the simplicity of the card and my Mum & Dad really liked it too.

Please pop on over to Scrapology to see the rest of the teams cards and for full details of the challenge.

Scrapology - August Layout Challenge

We've been away on holiday for the last two weeks but whilst away the August Layout Challenge went live on Scrapology. The team decided to take inspiration from a layout by French scrapbooker Sandrine Dawes and as an added challenge the team created 'Shabby Chic' layouts.

For my layout I chose to use a photo of my grandparents on my mothers side. The original photo taken in the early 1930s was really small - about 3"x2". I had the original photo scanned and reprinted larger several years ago and so I was able to use a much larger copy of the photo. I don't know the story behind the photo but given the way they are sitting together and my Nan is holding her left hand I wonder whether the photo was taken on the occasion of their engagement.

I used papers from Prima's 'Lyric' Collection. The papers had a Shabby Chic feel to them and I thought they were perfect for the layout.

The white flowers were from Wild Orchid Crafts but I made some of them larger by adding some extra petals  punched from some scraps of cream paper.  I also used some antique trim which I inherited from my grandmother. She was a crafter too and when she passed away I was given a huge box of ribbon and lace and trimmings. A few antique buttons, pins and some lettering cut on the Craft Robo completed the layout.

Here's Sandrine's original layout ......

..... and the sketch

Please pop over to Scrapology to see all the teams layouts and to find full details of the challenge.

Scrapology - July Card Challenge

This months card challenge on Scrapology has been set by Claire Bell and she challenges you to make a card on the theme of 'School's Out!'

For my card I found a vintage image at freevintagedigistamps.blogspot.co.uk which I altered slightly in PSE to say 'Schools out for Summer!'

I printed the image on photo paper and then matted and layered this using patterned paper scraps from Scenic Route and a sheet of cork. I embelished the card with a bow made from some genuine vintage seam binding (inherited from my Nan) and an 'A+' brad which I've had for quite some time - I think is from Pebbles Inc.

Pop on over to Scrapology to see all the cards that the design team have made and have a go at making your own card to celebrate the school holidays, summer and continuing hot weather.

Scrapology - July Layout Challenge

This month on Scrapology we are scraplifting a layout made by our own design team member Linda, which uses  many different mediums together on one layout. Linda's layout was inspired by a sketch by Emilie Chamel for Merly Impressions so we challenge you to create a MIXED MEDIA layout taking inspiration from Linda's layout and Emile's sketch. 

I will confess, Mixed Media doesn't really rock my boat and I struggled with my layout but now it's finished I sort of like it. It's very simple but that's OK by me.

Last year, my daughter took part in the Red Cross 'Dance Make Your Move' Dance Competition. Her small village school got as far as the Regional Finals and I decided to use one of the professional photos taken at the competition on my layout. The dance had a military theme and I thought this would suit a grungy layout.

I used white Bazzill cardstock as my background and as I didn't have the right colour of glimmer mist needed for the layout I created my own mist by mixing some green acrylic  paint and water in a spray bottle. It worked perfectly creating just the right amount of mist and paint drips I wanted. I also stamped a chicken wire design using black ink onto the layout and dry brushed some black acrylic paint round the edges. The photo was inked round the edges and mounted with 3D foam on top of a small piece of camouflage paper. Title lettering cut from black cardstock on the Craft Robo, alphabet stickers and a scattering of a few sequins finished the layout.

Here's Emilie's original sketch .....

..... and Linda's layout.

Hop over to the Scrapology blog to see all the teams layouts and to find out how you can take part in the challenge.

Scrapology - June Card Challenge

I was honoured to be able to set this months card challenge on Scrapology and I decided to challenge blog readers to create an 'English Country Garden' themed card.

I created a Tent Topper card and used a digital image from Holly's Secret Garden Collection by Cheryl Seslar. 

I also used Bazzill Cardstock, a sentiment from Craftwork Cards, punched leaves and some KandCompany Bright Flowers Layered Accents and I added some Stickles to the image to add some sparkle. 

Please pop over to Scrapology to have a look at all the teams cards and have a go yourself.

Scrapology - June Layout Challenge

For the month of June the Scrapology team are scraplifting a lovely layout by Maria Featon and challenge you to frame your layout with your papers and use the sketch to create your layout.

For my layout I choose to use a large photo taken of my children 5 years ago in Dorset.

I used papers from Websters Pages A Sweet Life Collection and cut and layered the papers with 3D foam to create my frame.

I also used some tiny alphabet stickers for my journalling and some stickles to accent some of the flowers. I punched a tiny tag and hung it with twine from the picket fence with the date on it.

Here is Maria's original layout and Lynn's sketch.

As always pop over to the Scrapology blog for full details of the challenge and to see all the teams layouts.