Using up the leftovers

Hello everybody!
I'm loving the summer holidays, and the little bit of extra space it brings to my life. I've been making plenty of cards, and today I have two to show you that use up some pieces that I had left over from the August 2017 Cropaholic kit

For the first card I was trying to think like a scrapbooker, and cluster my elements. I used all the smallest pieces, and grouped them around a circle to give the card some structure. I spattered the card base A LOT before starting to lay out the elements. I'm still deciding how I feel about that much busyness on the background as I usually work Clean and Simple.
Here's a closer look at the card.

Next, I used a single piece of paper from the kit to be the background for a card. 

Because the rest of the card was all white, I wanted to add some interest to the paper, so I chose to do an ombre look. I used Peacock Feathers Distress Oxide to darken the top portion of the card, and white pigment ink to lighten the bottom. I love the effect this gave, and will definitely be doing it again.

Finally, a quick look at (some of) the aftermath. Does anybody else's desk look like this when their done with crafting? I guess I know what I'll be doing next! 

If you are interested in seeing more cards, you can find me on Instagram.
We'd love to see what you've made with your leftovers, so share any projects you have in the Facebook groups.
I look forward to creating for you again!
Blessings,
Donna

Spiring sunshine

Hello!
It's Donna here, celebrating the fact that the sun has made it all the way to Victoria, and I finally have some sunny days to enjoy!
I've made two spring inspired cards to celebrate.
I've used the lovely papers in the September Cropaholic Kit from Jillibean Soup.

This first card has a splash of Distress Oxide which I loosely painted onto white cardstock, then spattered on some more for good measure!
Onto this I adhered some flowers and leaves from the cutout sheet, cutting one of the bigger flowers in half ( I used the other half at the bottom of the page as a small tag) I used a sentiment from my stash, and some black and white striped paper from an earlier kit.

The second card has a mix of elements, all from different parts of the kit. The yellow hearts are the leftovers from an earlier shaker card that I made using the kit. The sentiment was cut from one of the papers, and highlighted with a black pen. I used a doily, which I coloured with Distress Ink.
I adhered the hearts so they appear to be floating off the page.

I hope that these cards give you some ideas so that you can make the most of your kits.

Until next time, may your days be sunny.
Blessings,

Donna
instagram donnadoll74

Reflections - shaker cards

Hi everybody,
It's Donna here with some more cards using the Jillibean Soup paper that were in the September Cropaholic kit.

The theme for this month's challenge is Reflections, and looking at our favourite projects. I chose this card that I made about a month and a half ago because I love it, and because it highlights one of my favourite things- shaker cards. Here is the card I'm talking about.

In this post I have also included a detailed how-to for making your own shaker cards or elements in your scrapbooking pages. 

I have below a picture of all the elements I used to make another shaker card below. The only things not pictured are clear plastic, like the plastic that the kits come in, and adhesive tape. The important thing here is the rectangular white piece with a square cut out of it. You can make any shape shaker, like the small hearts which are all individual shakers in the card above. If you have a cutting machine, this step is easy, but the same effect can be made by carefully cutting a hole out with scissors.

First I attached the frame to the front of the card. This is optional, but I thought for this card, the pop of green would stop the card from being too pink all over.

 Next, on the back of the panel, I laid down some adhesive tape (glue would be just as good) and cut a piece of plastic to just larger than the cutout window and laid it on top. If you look carefully, you can see the clear plastic in the photo below.

Once the plastic was in place, I added the next layer of adhesive. This time it was foam tape. You can do two layers if the bits that you want to shake around are thicker, as they were in the heart shaker card. The important thing is to not leave any gaps around the window, because the sequins will escape if you do! I had to be especially careful in this case, because the sequins, which come from my stash, are tiny, and also because the You are Amazing panel was only just bigger than the window.

I added some sequins to the middle of the window, then peeled off the middle tape, and placed the You are Amazing panel face down on the window. I then added a little more flat tape to the middle section.

Next, I peeled off all the backing and stuck the shaker element to my card, which was exactly the same size as the shaker panel.

 Finally, I added the flamingos and flowers to complete the card, using a mix of flat and dimensional adhesive tapes.

 Finally, here is the completed card.

Until next time, may you know how amazing you are,

Blessings,
Donna
@donnadoll74

Floating on Air and Distress Oxide Bargain

Hello crafty friends!

Today I'm going to share three cards and an opportunity to grab a bargain on some Distress Oxide inks.

I don't think I'm ever going to get sick of the September Cropaholic Kit! Honestly, it's my favourite thing yet. I've made three cards to share with you today, using various parts of the kit. 

Firstly I used the clear plastic packaging that came with the kit to do some ink smooshing onto watercolour paper. I used Distress Inks in Peacock Feathers, Abandoned Coral, and Wild Honey. Then I used the stamp that came with the kit (pictured below) and laid it onto the blue and a little onto the coral ink and left it there until the ink dried. You can see that the ink is paler  where it had contact with the stamp. Then over to the left on the coral, you can see a darker pattern where I inked up the stamp and stamped on top of the ink.

I finished the card by mounting the panel onto cardstock, and using some heart wood veneers and the word today from the cutout sheet. In order to have it make sense as a card sentiment, I rummaged through my stamps until I found one with the word "enjoy" on it, and white heat embossed it to complete the card.

For this second card I got out my Distress Oxide inks. This is where the bargain comes in. The lovely Kylie at Shop and Crop is doing a deal on the entire first set of inks for $100. If you use the code DL5, you can get a further $5 off, so that the inks will be $95, instead of the RRP of $114 for the set. Bargain! I've ordered a set! the same deal is available on Set 2.

I used an old feather stencil that a friend gave me to make the feathers for this card. I used an ink blending tool and the distress inks glide on like butter. Unlike regular dye inks, they are very forgiving, and don't leave dark splodges if you accidentally press too hard. (which I do often). I used the exact same colours as the first card, but this time in the Oxide inks. I then carefully fussy the feathers, leaving a small white border. The Jillibean Soup paper with the feathers was a perfect match, but needed toning down a little so that the card wasn't too busy. I'm really pleased with the effect of the different sizes of feathers, but there are many images in the kit that would look great on this card, like the cute bicycles.

Here's a close up look at the layers of the card.

Finally, I have a very simple card that highlight the papers in the kit. There were so many combinations of papers I could have chosen to make this card, and all of the Shop and Crop Kits (except the Mixed Media Kit) have coordinating papers, so this is a card design you could use for any kit from any month!

I hope this has inspired you to stretch the supplies in your kit to get the most out of it, and that even if you're not a card maker, that you've enjoyed looking at the designs.

If you'd like to see more, feel free to visit me on Instagram  and see what else I've been up to!

Don't forget to use the code DL5 if you're planning to get the Oxides, so you can get the cheaper price.

Until next time, may you enjoy every day, and get a chance to be creative too!

Blessings,
Donna

August Cropaholic kit - 1 cut, 2 cards

Hello crafty friends!

It's Donna here, and I'm hoping the weather is better wherever you are than here in Gippsland. As I made these cards, the temperature clawed its way up to 5 degrees by mid afternoon, and hail was falling!  A perfect day to stay inside in my happy place and make cards, I'd say!

I've used two of the gorgeous papers from this month's Cropaholic kit. This month's kit has a beautiful collection of papers from Jillibean Soup, as well as a whole bunch of stickers, ephemera and other goodies. 

I first used alphabet dies to cut the word 'Thank You' from the pink paper. I mounted this with dimensional tape on the gorgeous floral paper. Once this was done, I carefully stuck the centres of the A and O into their holes using teeny tiny pieces of dimensional tape. 

Next, because the front of the card was fairly plain, I added some of the lovely cutouts from the kit,  placing them to draw the eye diagonally down the card. The flowers are a wonderful complement to the floral paper behind, and of course being from the same kit, the colours match perfectly. I also added two thin strips of the teal spotted paper from the kit for some contrast. 

Here's a close up of the depth that can be achieved with the dimensional adhesive.

Next, I used the pink letters that I had cut out, stuck them onto a piece of the floral paper, thus creating a card that was the reverse of the first. Unlike the other card, which needed some additions, this card started out very busy, and needed to be toned down. First, I had to make sure the words stood out against the busy background, so I used my copic markers (R85 and R81) to deepen the colour on the pink paper I then outlined the letters in black before adding a layer of glitter using Wink of Stella and a layer of Glossy Accents. I also added the black strip and sentiment to ground the card and add a contrasting element. 

I've included some closeups to give you an idea of the shine and dimension that the glitter and glossy accents gives to the letters.

Hopefully this will give you some more ideas of what to do with the beautiful papers in the kit, for those of you who are lucky enough to be subscribers.

The Cropaholic kits are available either as a subscription, which gives you a saving each month, or as a one off, until stocks run out. If you'd like a further saving, just use the code DL5 to give you an extra $5 off. 

Until next time, happy crafting. May your days be sunny and warm!

Feel free to have a peek at my other cards if you are interested.

Donna

Bowl of Dreams

Hello everybody. It's Donna here today, and I've got a couple of ideas for the papers in the gorgeous August Cropaholic Kit. If you haven't subscribed to this kit before, this is the month to start. So much fabulousness in a box. So, once I could finally bring myself to cut the paper, here's a couple of card projects that use some of the kit. You can expect to see a LOT more of this beautiful kit from me!

First up, I created a cute little shaker card that highlights the wood veneer shapes that come with this month's kit. I also added some sequins to each little pocket. I used the B side of two different papers so that the card wouldn't be too busy, and added a sentiment through the middle. A couple of the cute little puffy stickers from the many in the kit completed the card. 

Here are a couple of closeups of all the sweet little elements. 

Have you had a look at this month's challenge? This month we have a Tic Tac Toe challenge. Have a look at the squares, and choose three in a row to incorporate into your project, horizontal, vertical or diagonal. As an example, I've chosen the middle line horizontally, using Stencil, Cardstock, and Ink.  

I have also used some of the ephemera from the August Cropaholic kit to make this card to play along with the challenge. I have a striped stencil in my stash, and I used this, using ink to colour the embossing paste to match the blue flowers in the basket of the bike. 

A little bit of glossy accents made the bike seat and handlebars stand out, and tied them in with the shine on the puffy stickers.

Have a go, and then upload a picture of your project in the gallery on the Inside Inspiration page to win a gift certificate from the Shop and Crop store. We'd love to see what you create!

If you have enjoyed these cards, and would like to see more of my work, feel free to visit my Instagram page, where you can find lots more cards.

Don't forget, you can save $5 at the Shop and Crop Store using the code DL5. Why not subscribe to the Cropaholic Kit, which will cost less than a cup of coffee a day, and take advantage of the $5 off.
Until next time, happy crafting, and may your days be full of sunshine.

Donna

Caught on Camera laughing Layout with Anita Bownds

Hi..

Today I'm sharing a layout and process video using the September kit crop kit 

Full of lovely jillibean soup products 

With this layout I wanted to use the pinks and the yellows as my main colours 

And just a little bit of that dark blue 

I cut 2 borders for the top of my layout and with one of them I used deco paper edges 

Then I just cut different sizes of pattern paper for my layers behind my photo 

I fussy cut lots of flowers out but only ended up using a few on this layout 

I used a sticker for part of my title and some of the stickers 

As added ephemera

Here is my process video

pop on over to the shop and crop website and check out more fun
scrappy products and get $5 dollars of your purchase when you use the Code
AB5 during checkout !

Thanks for checking out my post today 

Cheers Anita..xx