June Blog Hop

Winter's Here

Wet, wet and yet more wet. Its a wet weekend here is Melbourne, what else can I do with my time? Well of course, scrapbook the photos I had of my wonderful recent weekend away. Perfect weather for it too, no one could say I wasn't spending my time constructively!
I was smart, I knew what sort of weekend it was going to be, so I had all the housework done, all the shopping done and sort of cleaned my craft room. First thing on Saturday morning I asked my son to light the fire, (I could do it, but why would I when I knew he would!)
Ready, set, scrap. So all weekend I have spent time doing something I love, and all because Winter has come. At last. Ive been waiting patiently for it to cool, for the rain to come, so I had an excuse to become a hermit and retreat to my craft room.
 
This months Blog Hop is 'Winter'. Blog Hops are a circular, a group of Close To My Heart papercrafters all write a blog on the same theme, and you can 'hop' over and have a look at all the great work done on the theme of Winter.
If you have come from Kerry's  blog; Kerry's Creative Collection then you are on the right track. But don't worry, if you get a little lost, just go to Alison's blog:  Scissors, Paper, Heart, she has a list of everyone blog addresses.

Last weekend I spent 4 fantastic days at my Dad and Step-mum's little cabin on the water. They are away, so I took some friends for company. The view from the cabin is truly beautiful. Photography is a bit of another hobby of mine, and as such I took A LOT of photos of this view. Over the weekend it was constantly changing, depending on the weather, time of day, and sunlight levels.
But this double page spread displays some of my very favorite photos from that weekend, and highlights this months theme beautifully.

As it happens, Close To My Hearts new paper pack, Florence, accents the photos beautifully. The first two photos, taken at dawn, were easy to colour match, because they are muted. I didn't want to use Black to mat the photos as that would have made the page too stark. So I chose the beautiful blue of Peacock. I think it works so well.
I was debating which colour to use to highlight the stunning sun coming up through the trees. I wanted an accent colour, I did think about the Close To My Heart colour, 'sunet' or 'goldrush' as they are on the orange scale.
No I wasn't happy with that, then I remembered a that on the zipper strips of Close To My Hearts paper is a colour guide, so if you can easily match your paper and inks.

Fantastic, 'saffron' was on the Florence zipper strip. So I used that colour as an accent. I think it works well, hope you like it.
I used a few Close To My Heart stamp sets, C1559 Always Grateful, and D1660 Ink Blot, both of which are still available to purchase. And the papers I used were the Florence paper pack, and Peacock cardstock.
I just love this double page spread. It really tells the story of that amazing sunrise I was lucky enough to catch.
I hope you have enjoyed my blog. Please hop onto the next blog, Cindy: Cindy Scraps  and read a different take on this months Winter theme.
If you want to have a look at the full range of Close To My Heart products, have a look at my website: Julie's Close To My Heart Shop. If you would like to know about future workshops, classes or if I can help you with anything, please email me : Julies Papercraft
Thanks for reading this and happy crafting.

April Blog Hop

Hi everyone, welcome to our April Blog Hop. This months theme is all things 'Mothers Day'. That day, once a year, where all us hard working mothers are recognized, well, that's the aim, anyway!
The way the blog hop works is the blogs are arranged in a circle. Just keep reading until you have read everyone's fantastic work.
If you've come here from Kerry's blog, Kerry's Creative Collection you are on the right path. If you get lost, head on over to Alison's blog Scissors, Paper, Heart which has a list for you to follow. Simple.
As April is a special month for me, it's the month I have my birthday, so I decided to make myself a present.
How else would I do this, but have a play in my craft room!!! (Of course) I had heaps of fun making this lovely canvas.I hope you like it, and you get some inspiration from what Ive created to get your hands dirty too.

When I'm feeling creative and just want to 'make', I look around my craft room and see what I have. I am a huge believer in using what you have, use it up, then you can buy more. In the past,  Ive saved paper Ive particularly loved, because I loved it so much, I didn't want to 'use it up.'
Now, I use it, because that frees me up to buy more beautiful paper, and to move onwards.
I also buy stamps that I fall in love with, but I have to say I use them all. I love using all my craft supplies in conjunction with each other. Can I suggest you do the same. There is something very satisfying about using some Waterclour Paints, a bit a stamping, some wet embossing, all in one project. Next time you want to have a play, look around and see what supplies you have on hand. Use your stash.
But I digress.... back to my canvas. I treated a small canvas I had on hand, with a few layers of Guesso. Guesso is just a primer, so the paint doesn't soak through the raw canvas. Im sure you could try any primer you had on hand, if you've recently painted. Im just guessing here, but I can't see why it wouldn't work.

After letting a few layers dry, I started to layer up Close To My Hearts water colour paints. I used the brown, orange and then a touch of grey to cover the canvas. I couldn't wait for it to dry, so I used my heat gun to dry the layers.
I just have to say something about Close To My Hearts Watercolour Paints. They are just fantastic to use. They are something I wasn't sure about buying, but thought I'd give them a go. I love them so much Im buying a second set in anticipation of using them up, and not wanting to buy another brand! The lesson here is, when crafting, give things a go, even if you're not sure, the new tool may become a favorite.

Now back on track.  I then created  the top layer, of artwork. I painted a very light brown wash, again using my Watercolour Paints. The next layer was stamping the blots in the top right corner, using the wonderful new to me stamp set: 'Ink Blot'. You can still buy this one, I'm glad I did, having used it once, I know I will get heaps of use out of it.

Then on the bottom of that paper I put the sentiment from another current stamp set: 'Always Grateful'. This stamp set Close To My Heart have carried over a few years, and I know why. Its so very versatile and I have used every stamp on this set, more than once. I also embossed this with clear embossing power, over 'Outdoor denim' ink. Close To My Heart stocks a range of embossing powders, which add a great 'pop' to cards, scrapbook layouts, or artwork.
Having completed the top and bottom of the canvas, all I had to do was complete it. I matted the top Watercolour paper with a retired paper, one which has been my favorite, but one which Im using up, so I can buy more beautiful paper. Its called Timberline and looks just great.
I matted that paper with the brilliant blue of 'Outdoor Denim', which is also retired, but which Ive now used up... so I can buy more of the current brilliant blue of 'Peacock' or 'Sapphire' papers. Its all about using stuff up....
 I fussy cut a butterfly from the stamp set 'Your own Kind of Wonderful' which is still current and again Ive used heaps, on Cranberry paper. Finished.
I am really happy with the result and have put this new artwork in my bedroom. I spent nearly a whole day just playing with what I had on hand, using the best quality Close To My Heart products.

Happiness.
I know this is a long post, but please hop on over to Cindy's blog, Cindy Scraps and see what she has created to celebrate 'Mothers Day.' We really do have a very talented bunch of people on this blog hop, and its great to see what everyone has done.
Thank-you so much for stopping by, I really do love sharing my crafting adventures with you.
 

March Blog Hop

Easter Craft, or Traditions




Hi everyone, it's that time again, time for a new blog from my craft room. This months blog theme is Easter Traditions. Welcome. As you are probably aware now, a blog hop, 'hops' from one post to another. By hopping around to everyone blog post you can get a real feel for what others are up to with their papercraft projects.
If you have come from Kerry's blog at Kerrys Creative Collection you are on the right path. Don't worry if you lose your way, a complete list is on Alisons blog at Scissors, paper, heart
I had a heap of fun creating my project for this months blog hop. Easter for me is a chance to celebrate my faith, so what better way to do that than create my very own work of art. The problem with creating works of art is that you need to draw or paint, right?
Well no. Close To My Heart have all the tools a 'non-creative' like me can use to create beautiful, one off, artworks.
Here is my first attempt at incorporating lots of my favourite techniques, and Close To My Heart's products I love to play with, all in one piece.

This artwork sits on my mantle and reminds me of my faith, and my love of craft. It is quite special to me. I also know if I get tired of it, I can create something new to replace it with.
I have used may tools in constructing this. I cut out the letters on the Cricuit machine, in Toprary paper. Firstly, though, I sprayed the whole Colonial White cardstock 12 x 12 base, with Cranberry and then Pear, re inkers, which I diluted and sprayed with Close To My Heart spray pens.
This is a great little technique for altering the colour of paper, if you don't have any paper to match your needs. And spraying ink all over the place is FUN! Its like I'm in preschool again! I just have to clean up the mess myself. But as the product are non toxic, I could do this safely.
After drying the base cardstock with a heat gun, which are crafters version of a power tool, I just adhered various hand-made embellishments onto the paper.

These Flowers are from various Close To My Heart stamp sets I have collected. Don't get me started on how much I love Close To My Heart's stamps.... My well loved and used collection is about to increase, because Close To My Heart is having a fantastic special during March. Buy two stamp sets and get a third completely free. Its great value, so please check out the wonderful stamp sets of offer at my website;  Julie Close To My Heart (Got a bit sidetracked, but Im sooo excited about this months wonderful special, I just had to share it.)
The Grey tag is cut again from the Cricuit machine.
I have stamped a background stamp under the tag to give the illusion of texture. I also used some buttons I found around home.
The whole artwork has turned out very well and its something I made for very little cost. That the thing about collecting Close To My Heart's products, once you buy a few stamps, some inks and some paper, you can create anything you like and use them over and over again.

I have a few stamps with bible verses, which I have got a lot of use out of. This is just another way for me to be able to showcase them.

In this section I used a Picture My Life card under the F letter, to again bring a little bit of dimension, and alter the background slightly. I think it works really well in this case.
Well thats me for this post. I hope you enjoyed reading, and learned something. Stretch your craft supplies, use them to decorate your home, or give as gifts.
If you would like to come and see the fantastic range of products Close To My Heart has, and which continue to inspire me, come on over to my website Shop
Please go onto Wendy's blog  Paper, Ink & Bling and see what take on Easter traditions, Wendy has.
Thanks for coming and happy crafting everyone.

feburary-blog-hop

                                                             Back To........

Hi everyone, thank you so much for coming to visit. You have arrived at our February Blog Hop. If you've come from Kerry's blog,  at Kerrys Creative Collection then you are on the right track. In these blog hops, if you ever get lost and want the full list of blogs, just hope over to Alisons at Scissors Paper Heart
It's a while since my last post, I guess Ive had a bit of a blog holiday. But not a papercraft holiday. This months blog hop theme is 'Back To', as in 'back to school', or something similar. Now I have to admit that this theme really did stump me for a while.
Both my son's are now finished school, so there was no 'back to school' photos to scrapbook. I couldn't think of any other 'back to' theme. Then it hit me.
Since moving into my new house in October, I have really got back into my scrapbooking in a BIG way. I had really been neglecting my photos and pages, instead making and designing cards, doing workshop prep, and lots of other off the page projects.
Ive also even been playing with Close To My Heart's water colour paints. Ive been having heaps of fun priming canvas, playing with our water colour paper, and even been giving drawing a go with our fantastic watercolour pencils.
The upshot of all this creative expression was that I was neglecting my scrapbooking. Its the whole reason I joined Close To My Heart in the first place, I fell in love with their fantastic, great quality paper range and couldn't wait to scrap with it.
So after moving and gaining the most amazing craft space, I got back into my scrapbooking with a vengeance.
What fun I had with all my photos spreed out in front of me, and all my craft supplies around me in the shelves.
The wonderful thing about Close To My Heart is that they have heaps of things to make my scrapbooking easy. When inspiration was waning, I would look in the Make It From Your Heart, How To series of books  and get ideas for page patterns.
All the papers are colour co-ordinated, so its easy to put together a very professional page, easily and quite quickly.

 I have used the new Sangria paper pack, with Champagne paper as a base. These colours are super vibrant and really add an easy 'pop' to any page layout.

 I have used a retired 'My Crush' book page which I pulled out of the book. I used that page as a photo mat, I think it really adds a bit of interest to my page.
These are just a few of the many, many pages I have been putting together recently. As I said before. because all the Close To My Heart's papers co-ordinate, its very easy for distracted people like me to be 'creative' with my layouts.  

This is a canvas I painted using Close To My Heart water colour paints. It was sooo much fun. I intend to do lots more of these. I just kept layering the paint until I got the desired mottled effect. Then put on a Cricuit cut saying on top to finish it off. Its now displayed on my craft room wall.

This is a small section of my huge new creative craft room space. Im so happy in that space, it makes it easier to play at short notice when I have everything arranged in order.
Thank you so much for coming to my blog and having a look at what Ive been up to lately. I hope you are enjoying the blog hop. If you would like to have a look at Close To My Hearts wonderful, versatile range of craft products, please hop on over to my website at Julies Shop 
Please go on over to Wendy's Blog and have a look at Paper Ink Bling her ideas.
Happy crafting everyone.