Issue 17 May 2013

I reland’s f i rs t onl ine craf t magazine. . . .

Ins ide th is issue

4th of July L ayout

Card Presentat ion Box

Mini Tag Book

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WELCOME to Issue 17 of Crafting Ireland!

Welcome to Issue 17 of Crafting Ireland magazine! We hope you

loved our last issue featuring work from our new design team

members as well as some of our original team. I think you will

all agree they all did stunning work!

As always in this issue we have a fun tutorial packed issue for

you all. You will get to see the fantastic work of our new team in

full flow! We also have a guest writer in this issue—Sandie

Dunne of The Crafty Side of Me

We also love to see what you create inspired by the magazine so

make sure you share your work with us on our Facebook page—

you never know when we may decide to give away a prize or

View all previous issues at www.craftingirelandonline.ie

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two!

We also have set up a Pinterest for Crafting Ireland. You can

find all our design teams work and blog posted tutorials up

on there, so make sure you follow us if you are on Pinterest.

Our page can be found here.

Don’t forget you can keep up to date with us on our BLOG

WEBSITE, FACEBOOK and PINTEREST page.

Read on to find out more about the new Design Team....

Happy Crafting!!

Nico le T i m i

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E d i t o r s n o t e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 2

Tu n n e l B o o k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 6

M i n i Ta g B o o k . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 9

V i n t a g e 4 t h J u l y L a y o u t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 1 4

I n s t a g r a m M i n i A l b u m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 1 9

C a r d S e t . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 2 2

C a r d B ox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 2 5

C l a s s e s & C r o p s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 3 1

S p o t l i g h t O n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 3 4

R a c o o n Ta g . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 3 7

C h o o s i n g p a t t e r n e d p a p e r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 4 0

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P e n H o l d e r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 4 3

A l t e r e d C u t l e r y B ox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 4 7

Fa t h e r ’s D a y J a r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 5 0

L u c k y S t a r M i n i A l b u m . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 5 4

D o u b l e F o l d B o n Vo y a g e E a s e l C a r d . . . . . . . . . . p 6 3

S m a s h i n g a b o u t M o u s t a c h e s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p 6 6

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Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fasci-

nated by tunnels. There’s something

almost magical about having your vi-

sion narrowed and focused on one

central point at the end of a long telescope-like view. So it’s no surprise that

I instantly fell in love with tunnel books!

Tunnel books are much easier to make than you might think and require on-ly these basic materials:

Sturdy patterned paper

Nesting die set such as Spellbinders (optional)

Stamps (optional)

Fabric scraps or other embellishments

Glue

Scoring board

Step 1 To start your tunnel book, cut multi-ple pieces of patterned paper. I’ve cut five squares, four of which have an opening. You can cut more if you’d like and the shape doesn’t have to be square.

Cut openings in the middle by hand (the openings don’t have to line up or be the same shape, either—just make sure the openings descend in size with each piece of paper). You can also cut the openings with a die cut ma-chine and a set of nesting dies, like I’ve done.

Andrea Ockey Parr

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Step 2 Use a scoring board and make two

accordion side pieces for your tun-

nel book. While you can make the

folds as thick, thin or plentiful as

you’d like, both pieces need to be

identically folded so that your pages

will line up correctly.

Step 3 Glue your pages onto one of your accordion sides. It doesn’t matter how

much space (how many folds) you leave between each page, but what you

do to one side, you will have to do on the other side later. For now, just glue

the pages to one of your accordion sides. The page that doesn’t have a cut-

out will be your back page.

Step 4 Before you glue your pages onto the

other accordion side, make and add

the picture that will go on the last

page of your tunnel book (the scene

that you will see when you look

through the tunnel). I made a col-

laged fabric scene of a bird, but you

can use anything that appeals to you.

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Step 5 When your scene is finished, glue it to the back

page of your tunnel book. Add other embel-

lishments now if desired, then glue your pages

onto your second accordion side. Tuh-duh!

The tunnel effect should now be in full effect!

As you look through your tunnel, you can see

where you may want to add more embellish-

ments. After I had my book assembled, I

attached some green fabric strips at the front

to look like curtains as well as some additional

flowers. Here is the finished product!

There is no end to the possibilities of tunnel books! You can make them as

complex or as simple as you want. The openings can be cut into different

shapes or be a series of circles for an even more authentic tunnel feel. No

matter what you decide to try, you can bet that these tunnel books will be a

stunning conversation piece!

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I wanted to show how sometimes all you need is the right product and not much else to create a wonderful keepsake. Graphic 45 papers are ideal for mini albums as you get both background papers, papers that can be fussy cut and usually a sheet of tags. What you will need:

Graphic 45 Regular Tag album (Kraft)

Graphic 45 Secret Garden Collection 12x12

Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe Butterfly Specifics

Flowers

Ribbon

Step 1 The cover of the album uses a section of the sheet called ‘Springtime’. Cut the image out once for the base image and then fussy cut another image to layer on top. Cover the tag with a background paper and add the image on top. Cut some butterflies from the sheet called Butterfly Specifics and add

them to the tag. Add a wooden fence to the bottom right side of the tag, wrapping flow-er stems around it first. You could use a die-cut fence here also.

Karen Mathews

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Step 2 For the back of the tag, cover the tag with a background paper. Add a die-cut fence along the bottom. Glue some sunflowers and other flowers to the tag and again add some butter-flies as before. Step 3 The second tag again uses some images from the ‘Springtime’ paper. There are a total of 13 separate images on this sheet which is plenty to complete the entire tag album. Again cover the tag, add the 2 images using foam pads and finally add a bow with a flower on top. Step 4 The back of the second tag and front of the third are simply covered with paper and have an image from the ‘Springtime’ paper attached. When you stick these images on, only stick them on 3 sides as you will then have a space to add an addition tag or image.

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Step 5 For the back of the third tag, paint around the edges with white or pearl paint. Stick some backing paper down and add an image from the ‘Springtime’ paper. Add a jewelled flower with a bow.

Step 6 Cover the fourth tag with paper. Add the quote to the bottom of the tag with foam tape, leaving the top open. Put 2 more images into the pocket you have created. Step 7 The back of the fourth tag is covered with paper and has an image from the ‘Springtime’ paper added. Finally a bow and flower to match.

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Step 8 The last tag is covered with a paper called ‘Coming up Roses’. This paper is ideal for layering up and fussy cutting. Cover the tag with the paper and cut some of the roses and keys and layer them on top of the paper which you have stuck down.

Step 9 The back of the tag album is a background paper stuck to the tag. The birds and flowers are then layered on top.

Step 10 Wrap ribbon around the metal jump ring and tie some additional bows to it for decoration.

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This album looks really fussy, but is achievable for any level of paper crafter. Go shopping: The tags album and all paper are available from www.createwithkate.com. The flowers are available from cottagecrafts.ie/shop.

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Abby has created a fun 4th of July layout and shares how she did it in this tutorial.... What you will need:

Chipboard

Card stock

Distress Ink

Liquid Adhesive (your choice)

Trims/flowers/embellishments

Modeling paste/stencil

Craft paint/inks

Distress tool

Step 1

I used a 12x12 piece of chip-board as my base for the lay-out.

I used some Distress Ink on all the edges.

Next after selecting the pa-pers I wanted to work with, I distressed the edges and then inked them with the same dis-tress ink.

Abby Henderson

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Step 2

I used my distress tool on the edges of the 12x12 card stock that I adhered to my chipboard base. I didn't take photos of this part but I did some tear-ing and additional distressing on the edges of the blue card stock before I glued it to my chipboard, just to add to the vintage feel I was going for.

Step 3

Below you can see the strips of paper I inked in Step 1 after I tucked them under the edges of the card stock that I tore.

Step 4

I tore this strip from a 12x12 piece of cardstock, here you can see what it looked like before I did this. This is going to be one of my layering pieces for this layout.

Abby Henderson

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Step 5

I wanted to use the word July on the layout so to give them the distressed/vintage look I was going for, I used some Perfect Medium and a mix of gold, red and red glitter embossing powders.

Below left you can see how the chipboard letters looked before I used my heat tool and on the right you can see how this embossing gave the letters a vintage feel and look to them.

Step 6

I wanted to add some additional tex-ture to the layout so I used some mod-eling paste and Alcohol Ink. I chose Butterscotch as I wanted the stars to have an aged look to them.

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To give them an additional aged look I used more distress ink after they were dry. I didn't get a photo of me actually using the stencil, it was hard to get a photo while doing that process.

For the rest of the layout, I added embellishments, trims, metals and flow-ers. I love adding layers and textures to my projects.

I plan on putting my family photo on this layout after we celebrate the 4th of July this summer.

For those of you who don't live in United States you can easily create this same type of layout by customiz-ing it to the Nation-al holidays you cel-ebrate.

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Around the House Instagram Mini Album I recently had a large batch of Instagram photos printed up and have been creating layouts with them. But then I saw a few pictures with a common theme. They showed activities the children engaged in around the house! So I decided to create a small mini album using those photos. What You Will Need:

Small mini album or chipboard pages to create album – I used 4 chip-

board squares by Bazzill Basics

Patterned Paper

Embellishments

Washi Tape

Heavy Duty Hole Punch

Rings to Connect Pages

Step 1 I just wanted to show you

a photo of some of the

product I had collected

before I started.

I used a lot of pieces from

the American Crafts Dear

Lizzy Neapolitan and 5th &

Frolic lines.

Mary Jo Rhoda

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Step 2 I covered the side of each chipboard

piece with patterned paper, cut the

corners to fit and sanded the sides a

bit.

Step 3 To keep the album quick and easy, I

followed a simple formula for each

two page spread.

On the left side I used a small die

cut or embellishment in the top

corner and then filled the rest of

the page with journaling.

On the right side, I simply attached

my photo with adhesive and placed

two strips of washi tape on the top

and bottom to look like the tape is

holding my photo on the page.

Step 4 You can see how I replicated my

design for this photo on the right

as well.

Step 5 And for my final photo, I once again kept it simple using a page with a die cut and journaling next to a page with a photo and washi. My plan was to actually use four photos in the album since I had four chip-

board pages to use. Unfortunately I had forgotten to take in account that es-

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sentially one of those pages was

needed for the front cover and a

back cover. So I had to reduce the

album to three photos.

Step 6 And here is my cover titled “Around the House”. I enjoy putting mini albums together using photos with a common there to

tell a story.

The next time you come across similar or extra photos with a theme, you

might want to consider creating a mini album to showcase them!

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I recently re-did my craft room and discovered I had a lot of paper that I wanted to use up. So I decided to make some quick and easy card sets. What you will need:

Card blanks x 6

One sheet 12x12 designer paper/card

Another contrasting sheet of designer

paper to embellish

Stamps of your choice

Adhesive

Distress ink for edges (optional)

Step 1 Pick your papers, I chose a striking black and white zig zag pattern for all my card mats. I was able to get six card mats from one 12x12 page by cutting them to 10cm x 14.4cm. There was barely any scraps from this 12x12 page this way as you can see below right.

Nicole Mullen

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Step 2 Ink the edges of all the card mats. Step 3 I then moved onto my décor for all the cards. I used my contrasting paper—a dis-tressed yellow paper. For two of the cards I cut the strip about 5cm high, I cut them into a flag shape and stamped pinwheels all over them. The stamp is a Lawn Fawn set. For the next two cards I cut a strip out and used an on the edge die to give ait scalloped edges. I then masked off the outer edges with post it notes and then stamped the pinwheels on this strip also.

For the last two I used a deckled rec-tangles die to cut my strip with a deckled edge. I then stamped the pinwheels all over this piece also. Make sure to stamp off the edge to give a all over pattern look.

Nicole Mullen

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Step 4 I then created some em-bellishments for the cards. I used some pink and blue coloured strips for sentiments. I cut them all at little angled notches. I stamped the same sen-timent on a pink strip and a blue strip. This meant there was a mas-culine and feminine card of each. I also stamped and fussy cut some pin wheels out of colour paper. I then mounted these all on foam pads on each card. Step 5 I added some diamond dust stickles to the cen-tres of each pin wheel for a bit more sparkle! This is a fun way to use up paper and scraps and make a set of cards that would be brilliant for a gift, or just to have on hand.

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I wanted to create a nice simple way to package up card sets. I created a card box using one sheet of 12 x 12 card for this. Very fun to make and dec-orate and easy too! What you will need:

1 sheet of 12 x 12 cardstock

Paper/embellishments to decorate

Adhesive

Scissors

Score board

Step 1 Take your 12 x 12 sheet and cut it down to 21cm high. Then score on the top and bottom at 2cm. If your card is only patterned on one side you will need to do all the scoring on the white back side of it. Other wise pick which side you want as the back. Step 2 Score on the sides from left to right at the 1cm, 13cm and 14cm mark and then on the right side at the 2cm mark. You can see all these measure-ments on the image right.

Nicole Mullen

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Step 3 Cut into the top and bottom flaps as shown below. You will need to fully cut off the small square flap on the top and bottom right hand side. Step 4 Note—I have switched to purple sample card below for better clarity in pho-tos. Fold up the bottom flaps as show below. Make sure you have folded and creased every scored line before you do this. Step 5 Start folding the box into shape as shown in the following photos....

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Add some strong adhesive along the edges of the flaps and press closed....

Step 6 For the top flaps you wont glue these closed, this will be how you put your cards in and out of the box. I did shape my flaps slightly by doing an angled cut on the edge of it.

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Step 7 Embellish as you like! I used scraps left over from making my cards. I again stamped the pinwheels and added stickles. I cut out a pinwheel in blue and added stickles on this too for extra shine and dimension! Below you can see my completed box that I decorated to tie in with the card set from the pervious tutorial.

Tip: I used a strip of washi tape to close my box. You could use Velcro tape or dots, a hook and loop closure, eyelets and ribbon closure—anything you like. I just liked the simplicity of the washi tape and that I get to use my stash of it!

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Close up of the front to try show the sparkle. I used some alpha stickers for my label on the front of the box. The diamond dust stickles shine fantastical-ly in real life. They give fantastic depth to the pinwheel.

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Once last show to show the set of cards inside the box.... I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Have fun making boxes for all your card sets!

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We would love to publish your classes and crops here. Whether you are a shop running crops and classes or just a group of crafty people looking for like minded people let us know. Simply email your details to submis-sions@craftingirelandonline.ie

Card Art Kilcoole http://cardarteventskilcoole.blogspot.com/

Crafty Angels All places must be booked in advance. Crafty Angels, Cutlery Rd, Newbridge, Co. Kildare. Ph : 045-446678. http://www.craftyangels.ie

Scrapbook Store More info can be found on the website http://www.thescrapbookstore.ie/workshops.php or contact Annama-rie at workshops@thescrapbookstore.ie

Jackies Cardmaking Workshops http://jackiesworkshops.blogspot.com/

Scrap n Yap Check out Scrap n Yap on Facebook for more information.

An Siopa Buí Check out An Siopa Bui’s website for all class information.

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Inspiring Ideas Visit http://www.inspiringideas.com/ for more information.

Archangels craft club Archangels Craft Club - we meet in St. Gabriels Clontarf every Tuesday 7.30 - 9.30pm and do all sorts of crafts - knitting, cross stitch, card making, beading and scrapping etc. We are in our 9th year - all very informal but it’s a place to craft with like minded individuals. We are always on the look-out for demonstrators and enjoy the social aspect of crafting (along with the tea and cake!) If anyone is interested in com-ing along to join us, or maybe there is another club out there who would be interested in doing a Christmas craft day to-gether please do contact me. Contact Christine at christine-helenokelly@gmail.com or on 0857151759

Create With Kate Workshops in card making, scrapbooking and mixed media. We also are a mobile craft supplies shop. Visit createwithkate.com for more information or phone 087 984 1196.

Scrapbooking Limerick Create beautiful scrapbook pages & crafts at our crops & classes Bookings: 086 3817677 www.facebook.com/scrapbookinglimerick

The Polka Dot Craft Club Cardmaking and scrapbooking workshop Killarney

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Crop Tarts ‘Crop Tarts’ are a group of scrapbookers/card makers who have a regular crop on the 2nd Saturday of each month from 10.00 a.m. until 4.00 p.m. at “Le Cheile”, Donnycarney Community & Youth Centre, Collins Avenue East, Donnycarney, Dublin 5. We are a friendly bunch who like to share our ideas/stash/equipment etc., so each month we usually have a short demo by one of our members e.g. recent demos have included crochet flowers and colouring with Promarkers or it might just be a LO that we are especially pleased with or a new card making technique.

Get Ireland Crafting Facebook Group This group lists all the classes and crops happening around Ireland!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/538826249466103/?fref=ts

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Betty Cumiskey In every issue we will be spotlighting the work of an Irish based crafter. We will look at paper crafters, scrapbookers, and altered art aficionados. If you think you know someone who you think sound be spotlighted let us know at info@craftingirelandonline.ie

This issues spotlight is shining on Betty Cumis-key! Here is Betty to tell us a bit about herself and her work.... I am from the beautiful little village of Clonegal County Carlow, which borders the counties of Wicklow and Wexford. I am the mother to four wonderful daughters, three dogs, three cats and wife to a workaholic hus-band for thirty one years. I worked as a carer with A.S.I Ireland for a number of years and due to ill health I am now at home full time. My love of crafting has helped to keep me sane, not

that everyone who knows me would agree! Some of the things I keep my hands and mind busy with are, paper crafts, knitting, needlework and floral art. I demonstrate for uk company De-sign objectives and teach at the ICA college in Louth, and Vec’s in Carlow, Wicklow and Wexford and at a num-ber of workshops all over Ireland.

When and how did you get in-

volved wi th paper cra f t ing?

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Betty Cumiskey I find it hard to say when I started crafting, as my grandmother said I was always ‘fidgeting’ with something. I learned to crochet at her knee and as she was left hand-ed, I learned backwards and it took me ages to learn to do it right hand-ed years later. I am self taught in most other needle crafts. Glass painting was a passion and I taught it for a number of years, I also attended many craft fairs both here and in the UK. It was at one these that I discovered paper crafting and to say I am hooked is an understatement!

What is your favour i te aspect

of paper cra f t ing?

I love all aspects of paper crafting as you will never get bored with new and exciting techniques, paper designs, paints, inks and an never ending supply of stamps, both rub-ber and digital. I love to colour and 3d my stamped images, also make

mini albums, alter items and make per-sonalised cards for special occasions. What am I saying I love it all!!

What are the techniques that you

use most o f the t ime?

Stamping is my most used technique, colouring, and heat embossing, experi-menting with it on any surface. I love to make my own embellishments, and at

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any time will be found making my own flowers from any material to hand for use on my latest project.

What are your "can ' t do wi th-

out" products?

Big Shot, punches, stamps, distress inks and copic markers.

What inspires you?

I find inspiration in everything and everyone around me, I love colour and textures. I am very lucky to have wonderful talented friends in the crafting world to inspire me when the mo-jo goes into hiding.

How do you descr ibe your s ty le?

My style?? Not too sure I fit any one particular style as I dabble in everything crafty.

Do you blog? Where can we see your work?

Now that’s a question! yes I have a blog (betsbitscrafts.blogspot.com) am I there on a regular basis? Sadly no as my internet is so slow I run out of patient, so what’s rare is pre-cious! You can find me on face book and I am a little better on there, so add me as your friend.

Have you any plans for the future?

Continue to learn, play and teach what I know to others, so they too can have a hobby they can take anywhere in the world and meet like minded people, who can be friends for life.

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I hate when I have scraps left over on a project and am always looking for ways to use up small scraps, rather than throw them out.

What you will need:

Card for a tag base—I used Kraft

Paper scraps that work together

Adhesive

Scissors or paper trimmer

Step 1

Get a tag or die cut/hand cut one out of card of your choice. I used kraft card for mine.

Step 2

Using a circle punch cut out circles from your scraps of papers/card. I used a 1inch circle punch.

Step 3

Lay these punched circles out on your tag and arrange until you are happy. Let some hang off over the edge to get a good pattern. When you like the pattern

Nicole Mullen

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then you can trim off the excess hanging over the edge. Try to be random with your patterns and colours.

Step 4

Stamp and colour and image and sentiment for your tag. I used a Snag ‘Em stamps raccoon image and a Lawn Fawn speech bubble stamp. Fussy cut these out. For a nice finished look go around the edges with a black pen to hide the white edges. This makes it look like you cut them out perfectly!

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Step 5

Using some more paper scraps add a focal strip to your tag. I used a grey strip with a very thin orange strip under mine for this.

Step 6

Add some hand doodling around the edges if you like. Then mount the raccoon and the sentiment on foam pads.

I positioned my raccoon on my fo-cal strip.

This helped make sure it didn’t get lost on the spotty background!

Step 7

Add some ribbon or twine and you are done!

I love this technique for making fun back-grounds and using up scraps. You can use any shape punch, or die, or even hand cut shapes too.

Have fun playing around with it and enjoy using up all those scraps us crafters accu-mulate too!

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Deciding on design/patterned papers should be the easiest part of your project, or so you would think, but it is something most people actually struggle with. Even after having made hundreds of projects I can still be very indecisive when it comes to choosing what I want to use. There are a few simple things to keep in mind, which will make deciding on your papers much easi-er. Design When choosing your papers you should first decide on how many you are going to use. If, for example, you go with 3 papers then ideally you should have one large design, one medium design and the other should be a small design or a solid colour. So if you have a floral pattern, you should pair it with one stripe and one solid or dots, as shown below. By using too many ‘busy’ papers together on your project they all gel into

one with no definitive contrast.

Sandie Dunne

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Sandie Dunne

And using too many solid papers

together can make your project

bland and lifeless.

Colour Deciding on colours is easier. If you are unsure of which colours go well together you can use the Colour Wheel, which is available for free online. Taking the 3 papers I have shown in the first picture above as an exam-ple I started with the striped paper which has multiple colours and used what I considered to be the main colours from it, which were pink, yellow and teal and worked my floral and solid paper to suit. Cardstock Using coordinating cardstock is as

important as getting your papers

right. If you go with a white card base use a contrasting cardstock between it

and your first patterned paper. This makes your papers pop out more.

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But if you are using a dark patterned paper, add some white card between it

and a dark cardstock base.

Following the guidelines above will ensure that you get an aesthetically

pleasing project, whether you are using a single paper line or using papers

from different lines/manufacturers.

You can see examples of how I used these guidelines on the two cards be-

low. On the left is a card created for La-La Land Crafts and on the right a

card for Waltzing mouse stamps. You can see more on my blog too.

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I love recycling old things into something new

and purposeful. So today I want to show you a

quick tutorial on how to recycle a gravy tub into

a pen holder.

What you will need:

gravy tub

ice cream sticks (I bought mine,

but you can give it a go and eat lots of ice cream)

natural cotton lace

Raffia

Flowers

some embellishments, I was go-

ing for an eco style so I picked some berries and twigs

Step 1 Heat the glue gun.

Step 2 Start gluing the ice cream sticks, try to align the first stick with text or something to get it very straight.

Katya Ivanova

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Step 3 Glue the ice cream sticks all the way around, mine are a perfect length for this packet, they don't need to be trimmed or anything. Step 4 If you have a little gap like in the image on the right, don't worry...

Step 5 If this happens- cut the ice cream stick in half or whatever length you need and then in my case diagonally. Step 6 Glue some natural cotton lace around and tie some raffia. As I am going for an eco style I am trying to use as many natural materials as I can.

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Step 7 I want to make some 3D flowers- we will need 10 hydrangeas, 5 for each flower. So we take one as a base, then take an-other one fold it twice and glue it down, repeat with other petals.

As you can see I have another flower there, I don't have photos for it as I had it in my stash. But they are easy to make- using a scalloped circle die I cut out 6 circles from a vintage music notes. Scrunch up each layer and while it's all scrunched up distress it in few places. Then unfold them, layer on top of each other and using a brad, pin them togeth-er.

Step 8 Position the flowers where you want them.

Step 10

Distress the edges with vintage photo

distress ink.

Step 11

Add some flower soft for

texture.

And now we have a pen

holder- anyone from a

school goer to an office

worker can use it!

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I got this baby blue box from a friend. It was packaging for a set of cutlery. It is a really nice box and it would be a shame to throw out without even trying to alter it into something pretty. I decided to decorate it and give it to another friend who is expecting her

first baby. The box is divided into two sections inside, so it is perfect for

holding a mini album in the back and a big photo on the front.

What you will need:

Box to alter

Patterned paper

Acrylic paint

Glue

Flowers and

other embellishments

Step 1 Using some acrylic paint, paint all

the edges of the box. It is easier

to paint the edges than to try and

cut paper into perfect size.

Timi Konya

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Step 2 Cover the box with the patterned paper. I had some left over pages and lots

of stickers from this Simple Stories Collection, so I tried to cover the box with

these.

Step 3 After all the sides are covered with paper, try and gather some

embellishments to decorate the box. On one of the sheets there was a

banner: Sweet Baby. I cut the little flags out and inked all the edges.

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Step 4 Glue the banner and some flowers on the box.

Tip:If you don’t have enough of

the same sheet of patterned

paper, do not worry! Try to

match with an another sheet. If

there are stickers in the

collection, it’s fun to use some

stickers to cover up the seems.

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My Dear Hubby’s favourite snacks are olives. My son is giving him a big jar of Olives for him as a Father’s day present. Here I’m going to show you how we decorated the jar, so now it looks a bit more than a jar of olives. What you will need:

Jar with lid

Sizzix Framelits Set 8 pk – Circles

Sizzix Framelits Die Set 6pk - Stamps and Banners

Sizzix Sizzlits Die Set 3PK - Frame, Damask

Sizzix Bigz Die - Hardware Findings

Cardstock

Bo Bunny – Grease Monkey

Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Walnut Stain, Shabby shutters, Rusty Hinge

Tim Holtz Distress Tool

Chipboards by me, and Scrap Decor, and Scrapfellow

Washi tape,

Twine

Step 1 Measuer the heights and the perimeter of the jar and cut a piece of cardstock and glue it on the jar. Step 2 Cut a piece of patterned paper

Andrea Kovacs

51

Andrea Kovacs

that is slightly smaller than the cardstock used in Step 1. I distressed the edge with some white acrylic paint to match the cardstock. Step 3 Cut another piece of patterned paper that is 1cm narrower then the one used in Step 2. Glue it on the jar.

Step 4

Die cut a label shape from patterned paper and distress the edges a bit. Glue it on the front of the jar.

Step 5 Die cut hinges from cardstock and and glue them on the jar.

Start layering the chipboard gears and circles of patterned paper.

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Step 6 Take a piece of twine and tie it around the middle of the jar. Step 7 Prepare a banner that says DAD. Cut out the banner pieces and stamp pattern on them. I have 5 pieces here, on three of them I attached chipboard letter spelling DAD.

Step 8

Attach the banner pieces onto the twine. Step 9 – The lid Cover the edge of the lid with some washi tape. Then cut out two circles the same size as the lid. Cut a piece of paper to make a small hinge for the two circles. You will be able to lift one up and write a little message inside and maybe include a picture.

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Glue this little circle shape in the lid and decorate the top.

Enjoy this cute altered jar of olives!

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A friend of mine is getting married and we are organising a Madonna themed hen party for her. I was asked to create a mini album for this occasion. It is really hard to find scrapbooking paper Madonna themed, so I decieded to create a Lucky Star mini album. To do so, I used the free software Inkscape and my eCraft electronic cutting machine. In this tutorial I will show you how to create a custom shape mini album

with a custom title.

What you will need:

Inkscape software

Electronic cutting machine ( that can import .svg files)

Some light chipboard

Cardstock

Acrylic paints

1 binding ring

Tim Holtz’s Crackle paint in Brushed pewter

Mini Album front cover, back cover and pages Step 1 Open a new documnet in

Inkscape and click on the

’create stars and polygons’ on

th left handside.

Timi Konya

55

Step 2 Set ’corners’ to 5 and draw a star.

Step 3 Select the start. Adjust the width to 7”. Don’t forget to click on the little

locket next to the width and height to keep the aspect ratio .

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Step 4 Save this file as the back of the mini album. Save it as a Plain .svg file.

Step 5

We are going to continue to work with the same shape. But just to make sure that we don’t lose what we create: Click Save as and save this as mini album cover.

Now you have two files with two different names. Continue to work on the cover now.

Select the star shape and copy it on the same document. Adjust its width to maybe 6 inches or even smaller. You will see how big you want the star in the middle.

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Step 6 Go to ’Object’ and click on ’align and distribute’.

Step 7 Align the two stars that the small one is in the centre of the big one, both vertically and horizontally.

Step 8 Select both stars. Go to Path and click on Exclusion. Save it as a Plain .svg file.

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Mini Album Title Step 1 For the title again open Inkscape and open a new document. Click on the Text on the left hand side and start typing the letters of the title.

Try to type them separately.

Step 2 Select the letters one by one and arrange them next to each other. Try and make sure that they touch each other. Then go to Object and click on Align and distribute as we did before.

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Select all the letters and align them, so the bottom of all the letters are in

one line.

Step 3 Select all the letters and go to Path and click on Union. This will make all the

letters into one big shape.

Step 4 Now go to the left bottom corner of the page. You will see Fill and Stroke there. Click on it and it will bring up a Fill and Stroke window on the right of the screen. There click on the big black X, so that there’s no filling for the shape.

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And then click Stroke and Flat colour, so you get an outline of the shape.

Step 5 Save the Lucky shape as a Plain .svg. Do the exact same proccess with the

word Star.

Cutting out the mini album and the title When you open the eCraft (or other electronic cutting machine’s) software, you will be able to import the .svg files that you just created. Cut out the fron and back cover from light chipboard (cereal box). For the

rest of the pages I used cardstock.

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It is possible to cut out shadow for the title. I really like this shadow effect

and use it often when I cut out titles. For the shadow it is good to use a

contrasting colour.

Assembling the mini album When you have everything cut out, it is very easy to assemble to mini album. Paint the front and back cover with acrylic paint. I used black acrylic paint.

The small star in the middle was treated with some Tim Holtz Crackle paint in Brushed pewter. If you use cardstock instead of patterned paper it is good to add a little bit of

interest to the background. I used some pink acrylic paint for the and just

splattered the paint over the pages. I then sprayed it with some water and

let it dry.

When everything was dry, I punched a whole with the Cropodile and added

a binding ring.

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Finally I attached the title to the front.

There are endless possibilities for more embellishing and adding more

pages if needed.

I would like to fill this album with black and white 3.5” x 3.5” picture in

Instagram style.

For the inside I would use some colour coordinating washi tape and maybe

some small chipboard embellishments.

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Tutorial for double fold Bon Voyage easel card. What you will need:

12x12 inch cream cardstock

Papermania All Aboard 6x6 paper pack

Papermania All Aboard Travel Labels

Papermania Urban Stamps Map of the World

Tim Holtz Distress inks

Tim Holtz Distress Markers

Scoring board

Trimmer

Step 1 Cut the 12x12 cardstock to make 1 strip of 12x4 and 1 strip of 11x4 inch, discard the leftover as you won’t need it. On the long side of the 12x4 piece, score at 4, 6 and 8 inches. On the long side of the 11x4 piece, score at 3.5 and 7.5 inches. Step 2 The 12x4 strip forms the base of the card. Fold on the scorelines as shown in photo on the right.

Karen Matthews

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Turn the card so that you have a valley fold on the left. Apply tape or adhe-sive to the area marked with an X. Once you have this done, stick it to the panel on the left.

Finally fold the card into an easel shape. Step 3 It is only necessary to decorate the flat base of the easel card, as the other areas will not be seen.

Stamp the map of the world onto the card. Colour with Tim Holtz Distress Markers and ink all the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink, to give an aged look.

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Step 4 The topper folds like a book and will stand open or closed. Decorate the 3 in-side surfaces and the 2 outside folded surfaces of the topper. There is no need to decorate the back as it will not be seen. Step 5 Once the topper has been decorated apply tape or glue to the back and stick it to the 4x4 panel of the easel base.

Step 6 At this point stick a strip of paper, raised on foam tape, across the base of the card. This creates a support for the easel to rest against when standing.

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So as some of you may know…. I am in LOVE with moustache anything!!! They are just so fun and I love them for crafting and even wearing myself J Today I am just going to share some of my purple smash* book pages which I

have dedicated to my love of the moustache.

First I gathered some moustache love! The

bag, tag, button, snippet and paper clip are all

from sarahhurley.com and the good girl gone fierce pic is just one I printed.

Aideen Fallon

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This is the cover of my book I have called it “Peace, love and moustache”

You can see how I added all the elements here and OF COURSE I had to use

some washi tape. The picture pulls out of the little bag/ pocket with the

paperclip.

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