The only thing missing is bows!

Ever wondered how to use up the left-over stickers in your stash? I scraplifted this idea - from a scrapbook magazine I think - a couple of years ago for a photo of my daughter. I've used stickers, buttons, flowers, sequins and brads to frame her photo. I even stamped a flower onto acetate a couple of times and cut the images out to use as well. The only thing missing is bows!

I think it looks quite 'busy' in the photo but in real life it's a very pretty layout - and no journaling required for those of you who, like me, dislike your own handwriting.

It's a very simple idea but don't make the mistake of thinking it's a fast way to do a scrapbook page! It took me ages to arrange all the embellishments and stick them down!

Have you have heard of The Stamp Man? On their blog at the moment there's some lovely blog candy up for grabs!  Here's the link and a photo of what you could win -

http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2009/08/stamp-mans-summer-blog-candy-giveaway.html

I could make some really nice bows with this!

Embossed resist cards

I mentioned in an earlier post (CUPBOARD CRAFTER: Rainy Days and Thwarted Plans#links) some embossed resist cards that I had made, but at the time I could not upload them. Courtesy of my daughter's SLR, a steep learning curve, and more patience than I ever knew I had, here they are! Finally!

I also made an A5 card but cannot show it here as I've submitted it for publication - fingers crossed.

I used a stamp from the 'Live Out Loud' themeplate from http://www.graphicus.co.uk/, stamping onto patterned paper and then embossing using clear embossing powder. This created a resist for the Tim Holtz Distress inks that I worked in over the top of the images. A very simple technique but it shows off this stamp nicely I think.

There are a lot of bird stamps around at the moment, ranging from peacocks to owls, but these are definitely my favourite. There are four themeplates in the collection. I have just two of them. I think the bird tails from my second set, the 'Curly Birds', make very nice background swirls, as shown on the green and brown card.

Confession time: I have loads and loads of ribbons, buttons and brads in my stash, but I love them so much, it is a real sacrifice to give them away on my handmade cards! I usually try to get away without putting ribbon or buttons on a card, but sometimes, as here, I really had to so that they look finished.

Some crafters cannot bring themselves to use papers from their stash -  with me it's embellishments. If I wasn't on a budget I would have ribbon in every pattern and every colour! And have a neat storage system with them all displayed on reels and arranged in colour families  --- Heaven on Earth.

Flowers

Confession time. I must admit I like flowers.

I made these cards and the scrapbook page a couple of years ago. The flowers were made using Hot Off The Press templates and scraps of decorative paper. My daughter was 18 months old in the photos and her favourite 'toy' was the watering can- but only because she got to play with water!

I have used the flower templates many times and flowers appear in many of my scrapbook pages. Looking through my photos has reminded me that I must get them out and use them again.

Every so often, and especially when I am lacking inspiration, I will revisit old techniques or pieces of equipment. I've recently used paper-weaving, border punches and stamping on scrapbook pages. If I need a spur to start my creativity I will set myself a challenge e.g. to use only green papers on a page. To really step out of my 'comfort zone' I would use yellow or pink! Eek! Confession time again: my favourite colour is blue. Were you to look through my scrapbooks, I defy you to miss the preponderance of blue!

If you are a fan of flowers like me, there's a chance for someone to win blog candy on The Stamp Man website including Kay Carley flower stamps. Here's the link to follow - http://thestampmanuk.blogspot.com/2009/06/stamp-mans-1st-blog-candy.html#comments

Good luck.