Map Folded Flowers PLUS Tutorial

Hi Everyone

I have had three people ask me in the last week how I made these flowers so I thought I would share again! These old maps are beautiful and came from my MIL's second-hand bookshop. They had been there for ages and weren't in great condition so I decided to recycle them into decorations for the shop! You can easily see the progression in map-styles...

I actually thought the differences so obvious in the maps would be reflected in the flowers - but they weren't really - probably because I was a little tentative about cutting right into the middle, "business end" of the maps!

These maps are made out of the most beautiful paper. Crisp, thin but very strong - perfect for folding!

The index portion of one of the maps had some wonderful plain black and white text - so I made one of of that too (bottom left in the pic below)

To mount them I hot glued them onto a lightweight bamboo skewer pressed lightly between the joins of the petals - as long as you hold it firm until the glue dries they will be pretty solid

I wrapped some map paper inside a mason jar and placed a lump of old play-dough in the bottom to insert the skewers into the vase!

Tutorial

Hopefully these instructions are clear - note I have used hot glue to stick these as I find it very strong and you only need the smallest amount as the map paper is very lightweight.

Lowri :-)

Party Decoration Ideas!

Hi Everyone - I have been so busy working on bits and pieces for SENZ (New Zealand's Scrapbooking Expo) and notwithstanding volcanoes and ashclouds - I will arriving in Auckland first thing on Thursday morning!

Here are a couple of the class decorations I have been working on. We have the Kaisercraft In-house design team coming to teach our classes, so most of them are Kaisercraft products...

Sour Cream Containers with Bubblegum Hills
(See tutorial at end of post)

Rosette Flowers with English Rose

Rolled Flowers with Pink Gelato

Pinwheels with Party Animals

Origami Boxes with Up, Up and Away

Banner with Bubblegum Hills

Crackers with Party Animals

Here is the tutorial for the Sour Cream Containers shown in the first picture.

Hope you enjoyed these ideas - they would be easy to adapt as party favours or little gifts

Lowri :-)

Got Kids? Make your own Dinosaur Fossils!

Hi Everyone 

I love this project - I do this every so often for my kids and they just always think it is so much fun!  It involves making your own dinosaur "fossils" with small toys and Plaster of Paris

1. Mix up the Plaster of Paris according to instructions
2. Place your mold onto a solid surface
3. Pour a little of the plaster mix into the mold
4. Add your mini dinosaur into the mix
5. Top up with plaster and leave to harden as per instructions
6. Give your little one a few tools and let them get excavating!

To make this an economical project I bought a HUGE 20kg bag of Plaster of Paris from my local builders merchant for about $20 - which was a great buy seeing as it was $13 for 500g at the craft store...

You can of course use anything as a mold (yogurt pots, ice cream containers) and below you can see a series of pictures showing how you can make a really big one in your sandpit!

Here is how I made a BIG fossil in the sandpit which took the kids days to excavate!

 

1. Dig a hole in the sandpit
2. Pour in your plaster of paris and throw in your plastic dinos
3. Cover with sand
4. Drag a spade or stick through the mix to make a cool shape
5. Leave to dry (3 hours I think..)
6. Let the kids loose with a hammer and some paleontologist protective eye goggles -cheap safety glasses!

These little molds are so neat with their dino shapes - I think they are for muffins. I made these crayons below using a tutorial I showed here.

  

Let me know if you give this a try! Goes without saying this is something you need to make and get the kids to play with OUTSIDE!!

Lowri-)

Linking up to
http://designdazzle.blogspot.com/
http://tatertotsandjello.blogspot.com/
http://www.bedifferentactnormal.com

Cosmo Cricket Mini Album & Printing onto Canvas

Hi Everyone

I am excited about this project as it was the first one in a while I did purely for fun and - I did it purely for me! It is my entry to the latest Cosmo Cricket Challenge and I am really pleased with how it has turned out.

This challenge had a lot of requirements (in blue)and I think I have covered them all!


Create your own 'die-cut' background: whether this is hand-cut, or die-cut with a machine, your background paper has to be a custom made background!

I created this album from scratch using my Spellbinders Christmas Tree dies, double sided sticky chipboard and papers from Cosmo Cricket's Social Club collection.

Your layout must include 3 pictures, any size you wish

I have incorporated 3 full page pictures (more about those later) and 3 smaller pictures (also cut with Spellbinders) into the album

I want to see at least one paper punch/decorative scissor used

Tad tricky this one - but I have have used my maple leaf punch to add some dimension and a splash of color to my pages

You must include fabric of some sort on your page :D Fabric is always so fun to work with!

I am pretty pleased with this one! All of my photos are printed onto canvas. It took a little trial and error but I found out that the best results were from the the plain paper, draft quality settings. I then used my spellbinders to cut the page and backed the canvas with patterned paper for strength

I want to see either some Ready Set Chip or Tiny Type stickers!

I found this sentiment sticker on the bottom of my Tiny Type numbers and it was the perfect title for my family album. I love how they are pretty much invisible on any background 

You need to have more than 3 Cosmo Cricket Patterned Papers on your layout!

No problem there! Most of this album was made using the 6x6 paper pad as the mini version of the prints gave a lovely green, country feel.

 

And lastly I want to see some buttons! Any amount will do as long as it is more than one.

These buttons from the Social Club collection co-ordinate perfectly. I have added some string for stems and pearls to the centers to create some flowers

This was really fun to do and I am so happy to finally have made something for myself!

If you have young kids, be sure to check back later this week as I have a great idea coming up for making your own dinosaur fossils!

Lowri :-)

    

Trinket Box and a Layout (Kaisercraft DT Submissions)

Hi Everyone

Thought I would share with you today the projects I made for the final round of submissions for the Kaisercraft Design Team.

Pink Gelato Trinket Box

I wanted to create a very light and whimsical look for this box so I have sanded all the edges with a very fine grit sandpaper before painting with pale blue acrylic paint. To create a slightly aged look  I have stamped a text pattern onto the edges using first white and then brown ink. This highlights the subtle text in the paper and breaks up the solid look of the wooden edges.

After covering all the visible sides with paper I have then used the stickers and rubons provided to decorate. The top has been left very simple to allow the lid of the box to be easily opened. 

To create the buttons on the front I have punched circles of plain chipboard and then added a circle of paper on top, insert a pearl brad and a little handle is made!


Velvet Ensemble Layout

There are some wonderfully rich colours in the papers for this collection but I still wanted to keep the overall look of the layout very clean so I have used the simple colour scheme of cream, black and burgundy.  The Performance paper is the perfect background to use as it already has lots of interest with the music and gramophone print.  

For the “dress” square I have used eyelets to form a corset and used lace to complete the ornate look.

The sticker sheet offers many options for decoration, and here I have put some together to form a background for my “Chorus” lettering. For the letters I stamped onto then with white ink for extra depth, using the Kaisercraft Sheet Music Stamp.To make the lace "button" I have used a simple technique which can be seen in my mini tutorial below.

Rolled Lace Button Tutorial

1. Cut or punch a circle of paper the same colour as your lace
2. Make it super sticky all over(I used glue dots but you can use double sided tape)
3. Starting at centre, roll your lace in a circle, twisting as you go
4. Press down firmly to ensure lace sticks to glue
5. Be sure to roll tightly as you get to the end and secure the end underneath with another glue dot
6. You can now decorate as you choose!

It's funny - as I look at these projects I do not recognize them as mine as I feel they are both quite removed from my usual style. Both collections were out of my comfort zone in terms of product I would normally choose and so I am quite proud of the results. The layout was really challenging for me as it was only the 4th one I have attempted!

I do enjoy working with Kaisercraft products and I really excited to see which of the talented ladies have made the team!

As a matter of interest - I would  welcome any constructive criticism on my entries!!

Lowri :-) 

Blog Giveaway Winner....

Hi Everyone - 

Have just completed my draw for winner of the giveaway! Just so you know how I did it I took all the comments (numbered them 1-84 in chronological order)and then all the new followers(numbered them twice each 85-116) and the winner was number 61 which is debpaint16.

Whoever you are I have your e-mail address and I have just e-mailed you - congratulations and a HUGE thank-you to everyone who participated and commented in the last week. 


Lowri :-)

Bits and Pieces w/ Digital Collections

Hi Everyone - OK, So I know it's not Christmas for 6 months but it is the middle of winter here in New Zealand and I love this collection so much I wanted to share a couple of projects I made - again using both the digital and paper collection from Cosmo Cricket.

Christmas Notebooks

I had run out of some of these papers so I just printed my own with the digital collection and used the chipboard pieces to add detail to the front.

Party Favours

Here are some favours I made for last year - again - I have printed out the covers using the digital collection - very cheap and easy to do!

Just to finish off my Cosmo Cricket week - here are a couple of my favorite past projects using their collections...

Click on the caption underneath to go the relevant blog post for more details on the projects. Heaps of them have tutorials too.

Snorkel Card-Set

Circa 1934 Drawer Set

 

Jolly by Golly Flowers

 Earth Love Mini Album

 

Material Girl Set of Drawers

Various Binder Album

Earth Love Bookmarks

 

 Jolly By Golly Flowers

Earth Love Frame

 

 Snorkel Mini Album

Snorkel Party Items

Earth Love Card-Set

I hope you have enjoyed my projects this week - post a comment if you have any questions.

Lowri :-)