First Solo

My younger DD recently gave her first solo violin performance at a Young Violinists Concert, playing Giga by Saint-George, her Grade 4 exam piece. It wasn't exactly a perfect performance and she was certainly not happy with her own playing (perfectionist that she is), but we were still so proud of her, given that it's not an easy piece to play. Of course, I just had to scrap this for posterity.

I used Pink Paislee's London Market collection for this layout, as I found the papers with the music notes perfect for it!

Thanks so much for dropping by! :)

Materials used:

Patterned Papers - Pink Paislee - London Market Collection - Curiosities, Addington, Kensington

Additional Papers - Pink Paislee - London Market Collection - Collage Sheets

Cardstock - American Crafts

Wood Accents - Pink Paislee - London Market Collection - Spool Buttons

Journal tag and Postage Stamps - Pink Paislee - London Market Collection - Ephemera

Flowers - Prima Marketing - Charme Rose (Sun Kiss, Meadowlark, Nature Garden), Laraine (Sorbet, Pearl White), Kennedy (Rosette), Parisa (Winston Mix, Mayfair Mix), Velvet Rainbow Leaves (Naturals)

Pins - Prima Marketing - Petal Pins (Pearls)

Pearl and Crystal Flourishes - Prima Marketing - Say It In Pearls

Alphas - Prima Marketing - Alphabet Stickers (Black)

Punches - Martha Stewart Crafts - Vintage Floral Punch Around The Page Set

Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Iced Spruce

Adhesives - Beacon’s 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots

Others - Paper Doilies

'Journal' - Mini On Canvas

I created this project recently that I'm really pleased with. It's a mini-album that's encased in a photo frame and mounted onto a piece of canvas. It's actually a little family photo journal, hence the title of the album.

I began this three-tiered project by first placing a piece of Prima mask onto a corner of the canvas piece, and then spraying some glimmer mists over this. I repeated this for the other three corners of the canvas. I then left the canvas to dry, and wiped the excess mists from the mask, after which I replaced the mask over the four corners again and further inked over the designs with some distress ink, for greater definition.

I also misted the sides of the canvas, and after the mists have dried, adhered a strip of lace all around. I then ran a string of pearls along the upper edges of the canvas.

Next up is the wooden photo frame. I removed the glass and back from the frame, and replaced the back with a piece of corrugated cardboard on the lower half, and a piece of burlap cloth on the upper half, both held together by a torn strip of Prima paper. (You can't see it clearly here as it's under the mini.) I then heat embossed the frame. I used another Prima mask to apply the glue in a lovely pattern onto the frame, removed the mask, and then poured the embossing powder onto the glued portions and heat-embossed it. I brushed some distressed stickles over the embossed patterns for added sparkle and texture, and adhered the frame onto the canvas piece.

The mini album is made using papers from Prima's Script Pad, with the inside pages of the mini very heavily embellished with flowers, pearls, muslin, chipboard pieces, journal cards, and wood and metal accents. The album is held closed using a strip of Prima lace adhered to its back and coming round to the front to tie at its side. It is then adhered onto the new backing of the frame.

The entire project is then embellished with flowers and vines from Prima, and I decorated the front of the mini with some lovely metal accents, also from Prima, and more flowers. The white resin pieces are brushed over with distress stickles for a touch of colour and some texture.

Here's a look at the inside pages of the mini.

Thanks so much for dropping by! :)

Materials used:

Canvas (8" x 10")

Wooden Photo Frame (5" x 7")

Patterned Papers - Prima Marketing - 12" x 12" Script Pad

Cardstock - Bazzill Basics - French Vanilla

Flowers, Leaves and Vines - Prima Marketing - Vinetta (Nature Garden), Charme Rose (Fairy Belle), Perle Bebe (Nature Garden), Laraine (Sorbet, River Rock), Firefly (Stone), Pixie Vine (Songbird, Nature Garden, Fairy Belle, Almanac), PaperMarket Limited Edition 2011 (Romance Mix), Velvet Rainbow Leaves (Naturals)

Laces - Prima Marketing

Metal Accents - Prima Marketing - Shabby Chic Treasures (Baroque, Hutches), Vintage Trinkets (Songbird, Sun Kiss, Flowers Mix 1)

Wood accents - Prima Marketing - Wood Tickets (Fairy Belle Collection), Decorative Wood Embellishments (Clocks)

Chipboard Pieces - Prima Marketing - Chipboard Pieces (Nature Garden Collection, Fairy Belle Collection), Journaling Chipboard (Nature Garden Collection)

Journal Cards - Prima Marketing - Nature Garden Collection - Journaling Cards

Stamp - Prima Marketing - Fairy Belle Collection - Clear Stamps

Inks - Tim Holtz Distress Ink (Walnut Stain), Ranger Archival Ink (Jet Black)

Mists - Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist - Coral Reef, Vanilla Breeze, Butternut Squash, Iridescent Gold

Embossing Powder - Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder - Frayed Burlap

Stickles - Ranger - Ice Stickles (Crystal Ice), Distress Stickles (Antique Linen)

Masks - Prima Marketing

Adhesives - Beacon’s 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots, Tsukineko Glue Pad

Others - Pearl Strand, Muslin, Burlap, Corrugated Cardboard

Smile Always

A quick layout I did using Webster's Pages' Everyday Poetry collection.

The papers are so lovely in themselves that I hardly had to use any embellishments save for a pretty cameo from the same collection.

The rest of the layout was created by layering the hand-cut pieces and journal cards using 3-D foam dots for dimension.

Thanks so much for dropping by! :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - Webster's Pages - Everyday Poetry Collection - Little Bird Told Me, Glorious Day, Messages To You, Love And Dreams, Happiness
Journal Card - Webster's Pages - Everyday Poetry Collection - Deluxe Journaling Card Set
Cameo - Webster's Pages - Everyday Poetry Collection - Perfect Accents
Punches - Martha Stewart Crafts - Doily Lace Edge Punch, Vintage Floral Punch Around The Page Edge Punch
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Walnut Stain
Adhesives - Beacon’s 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots

You Put A Song In My Heart

Here's the third and final layout from my Prima 'What A Lark!' class at Made With Love.

I used the reverse of the Audonbon paper as the background for the layout (don't you just love those gorgeous flowers?), turning it sideways so the checkered portion is on the side of the layout.

The entire layout is then given a very soft, even more feminine look with some pretty paper doilies and some muslin which is inserted along the floral edge of the Audonbon paper.

And finally, the hand-cut birds and flowers, as well as the journaling card for the title, are layered on using 3D foam dots for added dimension.

Thanks so much for dropping by, and a big 'thank you' to all who attended my classes, for your wonderful support! :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection - Audonbon, Floralee, Grace, Chloe, Astor
Journaling Notecard - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection
Flowers - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection - Perle Bebe
Alphas - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection - Typography Alphabet Stickers
Punches - Martha Stewart Crafts - Eyelet Lace Punch Around The Page Edge & Corner Punches
Adhesives - Beacon’s 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots
Others - Paper Doilies, Muslin

Moments Cherished

This is the second layout I created for my Prima 'What A Lark!' class at Made With Love.

Again, lots of fussy cutting and layering ...

... and I also played with my Martha Stewart punches here.

I went for a light, almost white background, so as to allow for the many richly-coloured embellishments to stand out.

Thank you so much for dropping by! :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection - Chloe, Windsong, Audonbon, Astor, Grace
Journaling Notecards - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection
Metal Embellishment - Prima Marketing Trinkets Metal Ornament - Adore
Wood Embellishments - Prima Marketing Wood Tickets - Meadow Lark Collection
Flowers - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection - Millicent Vine (Blue), Perle Bebe
Butterflies - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection - Mariposa Butterfly (Berry), Flutter Bits
Alphas - Prima Marketing Typography Alphabet Stickers - Meadow Lark Collection
Punches - Martha Stewart Crafts - Doily Lace Edge Punch, Eyelet Lace Edge Punch
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Weathered Wood
Adhesives - Beacon’s 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots

Gentle Beauty

This is the first of a series of three layouts I created for my Prima 'What A Lark!' class at Made With Love last month. The layouts feature papers and embellishments from Prima's lovely Meadow Lark collection.

I did lots of fussy cutting for this layout, and layered the hand-cut flowers over each other to create a very three-dimensional look.

The layout is then embellished with some pretty wood tickets from the same collection, as well as some bling and glitter for added sparkle.

Thanks so much for dropping by! :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection - Grace, Windsong, Floralee, Audonbon
Journaling Notecards - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection
Wood Embellishments - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collaction - Wood Tickets
Crystals - Prima Marketing - Meadow Lark Collection - Say It In Crystals
Inks - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Dusty Concord, Victorian Velvet
Glitter - Ranger Ice Stickles - Crystal Ice
Adhesives - Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots

Butterfly Dream

I created this layout yesterday and I'm really pleased with it. I used Prima's new Fairy Belle collection - I'm so loving these gorgeous papers! I created the layout on a piece of corrugated cardboard, and did lots of layering with foam dots.

I then embellished the piece with lots of flowers (of course!), their metal trinkets, chipboard pieces, and lace and crystal trim. The result is a very 3-dimensional and textured layout.

Here are more views of the layout.

Thanks so much for dropping by! :)

Materials used:
Patterned Papers - Prima Marketing - Fairy Belle Collection - Aquarelle, Le Toulle
Chipboard Pieces - Prima Marketing - Fairy Belle Collection
Metal Pieces - Prima Marketing - Vintage Trinkets, Shabby Chic Metal Treasures
Flowers - Prima Marketing - Fairy Belle Collection - Pixie Vine, Charme Rose, Perle Bebe, Melisse, Vinetta
Leaves - Prima Marketing - Velvet Rainbow Naturals
Trim - Prima Marketing - Say It In Pearls
Ink - Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Walnut Stain
Punches - Martha Stewart Crafts - Floral Vine Deep Edge Punch, Pansy Punch Around The Page Punches
Adhesives - Beacon’s 3-In-1 Advanced Craft Glue, Kokuyo Dotliner, EK Success 3D-Dots
Corrugated Cardboards