I haven't updated this blog for such a long time. I have been making things and I have my very first book contract (!) so I have been writing like crazy in between kids and other work commitments there isn't much time for paper crafting. I did cover these papier mache letters in beautiful papers from Studio Calico, American Crafts and Basic Grey - one for each member of the family!
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Sorry for my long absence. I had a very busy handmade Christmas and was generally offline most of the silly season. I didn't even upload my xmas projects! But things have settled down and I'm back to some totally self indulgent paper crafting. Kaisercraft's January releases were quite different. I steered away from 'lil primrose' but really loved the saturated colours of Hummingbird. There will be at least two other projects using this collection. Loved it!
My daughter bought me a whole stack of great scrap supplies for my recent birthday. It seemed only fitting that I create something that centered on her and her little brother. These kaisercraft frames are great because there isn't too much painting t o do and they look great really quickly. I have visions of filling my walls with these things!
I had great fun putting this kaisercraft caravan mini together for fathers day. The hunt and gather collection is kind of terrific, lots of outdoorsy stuff and good masculine patterns.
Of course my son Thom has become white good at wielding the foam brush and mod podge so he was in charge of gluing!
I think this is my best mini so far. Not too fussy, very cohesive and capturing quite a small every day moment in a lovely way. I even went a little creative with the wrapping
I've always been curious about the basic grey card kits. You get al you need for eight cards - rub ons, die cuts, cards, envelops, the works. But would it be too boring? Too constrained? The do have step by step instructions but they also supply you with enough extra bits to adapt the designs a little. It's kind of like doing a mini card course, gets you to stretch in different directions and try new designs out. I'll give these away to friends for them to use but really for$20 and an hour or two in the afternoon it was great value and lovely fun.
After taking a bit of a break from it I am back on the Kaisercraft bandwagon. There latest ranges have been fantastic. I particularly impressed with Little Toot - a great boy range that is perfect for my little guy. I think what Kaisercraft are trying to do is provide the 'complete' project. The papers correspond perfectly to the mini albums and frames and the embellishments can be used in so many different ways. Cute I think.
I can highly recommend doing an online course it is superfun! It just stretches you in different ways - like boot camp for card making.
I must say I am using up a lot of my Basic Grey sweet threads pack - I'm hoping they go for a more muted colour story next week
I'm really pleased with how these three cards turned out. What do we all do with all these handmade cards?
October Afternoon are fast becoming one of my favourite companies. Their mini kits which retail here for about $10 are great value and with a few added embellishments make for gorgeous little keepsakes. They seem to specialise in boy papers too which is great for me!
I've learnt that the most successful minis don't have all the elements for the one collection - by combining two or even three you can make it so unique. companies tend to work in the same palette so there is no real trick to combining. This mini combined 5 and Dime and Campfire ranges pretty seamlessly
I also think the best minis tell a story of a small moment in everyday life. This was an autumn afternoon walk that ended in some intense crafting.I called it Fall Days simply because I couldn't fit the word autumn on my cover, simple as that.
I had a lot of fun playing this weekend with Kaisercraft's new range Little Toot. It's rare for me to get my hands on new release papers at the start of the month. I usually like to see what the design team present first to get a good idea of the flexibility of the collection and buy things week three. Is that weird?
I knew when I saw the preview at the end of June that this one was a must have for me so I actually had it arrive on the 1st July! My son Thom is an avid train fan (not just Thomas the Tank Engine, we are talking real trains - its crazy!)
In fact he likes anything the toots, beeps or honks. He seems to also really love looking at the minis I make of him, he is the star of the book after all.
Kaisercraft have recently introduced sticker sheets to the collections and they are fantastic. The chipboard elements in this range are great too because they have lots of dimension (see the cloud? awesome)
I was going to use their train wooden album but I've already used it twice! So the arrow worked well I think.
A really really fun Sunday afternoon project and a great new range for Kaisercraft.
I've been away for a while, with not much time for scrapbooking. It was exciting to get home on Sunday to find lots of little parcels from my favourite online stores. I thought I'd stretch my scrap muscles a bit last night and do a layout based on a Saturday Sketch from the Kaisercraft blog. Because I'm more of a card maker and a Beyond The Page project gal I find sketches really helpful in pushing me in new directions. It's great to be home!
Kaisercraft ribbon box for a crafty friend. Love the Class of 87 papers. Easy 1 hour project.
I absolutely love the Party Animals range by Kaisercraft. I have 16 different kids in my world (my own, friends, family, neighbours) so there is always opportunities to do kid friendly stuff. Wolfgang turns One next week and at the same time is moving into a room of his own. So of course a door plaque was in order!
Enjoyed making my Christmas tags so much I went ahead and did another set, this time using the very pretty Chanteuse collection by Kaisercraft. I'm not so sure, but do those rosy blooms look a little like spooky eyes with the pearls in the centre?
Had fun learning how to make origami boxes this weekend. I used the very beautiful Chapter One papers by Kaisercraft (hmm what a surprise). I used the instructional video by scrap designer her Kristina Werner:
The k-bots Kaisercraft papers are pretty old now but still look great on BTP projects for older boys. This is for my 7 year old friend Silas who is just way to big for baby boy papers and yet still wants something fun. I was so pleased with how it turned out. I'm finding the kaisercraft glue is really good for getting papers down onto wood - it doesn't dry to fast and cleans off the edges nicely. This was for Christmas but since i made the cool birthday card I think he's going to get this sooner rather than later!
Yes I have started on my Christmas presents - well the wrapping at least! Because I still had so much left from my Tis the Season and Dear Santa pads following my Christmas album I thought Id be a little industrious this weekend and transform some basic papier mache boxes into Christmas packages (ready for a pretty mug, a brooch, some earrings perhaps?) the smallest one I made a tag gift set to send to friends in London. So cold here in Melbourne it may as well be snowing so I can pretend I'm in a Northern Christmas!
What can be a better treat for mothers day than for the whole family let me just scrapbook all afternoon? And that's exactly what I did. Last week Thom and I found a caterpillar in the garden and decided to give it a little home in the cubby. He was fascinated by it, feeding it leaves, putting some dirt in a container for his new pet to roam around.
I used Kaisercraft Jungle bug papers, mini leaf album, green paint and rub ons. A lovely memory and a lovely way to spend mothers day.
