Category Archives: Autumn

Pre-made Collection Folio Idea

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Happy New Year everyone! 🙂
And let’s start off with a new craft idea, why don’t we 🙂

So I bought what I’m calling a collection folio, a sturdy folio to keep your paper documents neatly ordered around the office and at home. I altered it a bit, that is to say I expanded on it, decorated it and then filled it up with two handmade folios of my own.

I used the beautiful Madeleine paper collection by Bo Bunny plus several of its decorative elements.

Hope you like this idea, it was pretty fun to work on it! As for the other two folios, next week’s post will focus more on them, plus I’m now offering a tutorial set for them.

Let me know what you think!

 

Thin is the New Bulky – an Alice in Wonderland 10-pic Mini Album

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A friend asked me to create an Alice in Wonderland-themed mini album for her, to hold a maximum of only ten pictures. So no wallet, no folio, but an actual mini album. Oh, and no flowers please.

Well, that turned out to be a fun design challenge! Using a Marion Smith Designs paper collection called Mad Tea Party, I designed two interactive pages to hold the ten pictures. Of course I also incorporated a scrap mat, for which there’s a free video tutorial available on my blog. The second tutorial which may come in handy is my free gradient technique video for Distress Stickles.

So, this is a very thin mini album with no bulky embellishments, but:

Thin is the New Bulky! 🙂

Let’s start a new trend here shall we 😎.

 

 

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Love is a Four-Legged Word Card

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I truly loved Graphic 45’s Raining Cats & Dogs collection, and used up every last scrap I could find to create this one last card with it.

In doing so I came up with four tips, that I’d like to share with all of you card makers out there:

  1. Don’t throw out your leftover 4×6″ ATC cards but fit them onto a 6×6″ square card;
  2. Decorate on the side of the card, and leave your ATC card uncovered, showcasing its lovely graphics;
  3. Use a scrap mat on the inside to use up your scraps – check out my free video tutorial for that;
  4. Combine with other collections that coordinate well with your almost-gone main collection.

By the way, just after I had concluded that I would now never be able to craft with these lovely papers ever again, Graphic 45 announced their new Deluxe Collector’s Edition, which was…… you guessed it, Raining Cats and Dogs! ?

Have fun using these tips, enjoy the video! 🙂

 

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Four Seasons, Four Sentiments

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A lady asked me to create four double-layout cards for her, one for each season. She also provided me with four seasonal sentiments to incorporate. What a fun challenge that proved to be! 🙂

I also used four brands by the way, so I really saw all four ? corners of my craft supply room. Here’s the collections I used:

  • Spring: Graphic 45, Time to Flourish
  • Summer: Kaisercraft, Fly Free
  • Autumn: Bo Bunny, Autumn Song
  • Winter: Studiolight, Frozen Forest

Let me know what you think!

 

Tag die set by Crealies:

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Kraft-colored Tea Box with Olive Tree

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A man requested a customized tea box for his beloved, an avid tea lover. He asked me to keep it natural, with browns and greens and no fuss, and when I suggested he watch my K&Company Olive Tree paper walkthrough, he chose four sheets that he loved the best.

So it’s with those four 12×12″ sheets that I altered this 9-partition wooden tea box. I used some die-cuts to create a paper ornament on top, with a Tea is Ready stamp – in Dutch. The result is an elegant, stylish tea box keepsake in warm, neutral kraft colors. I was of course very happy to hear both the man and his lady loved the tea box! 🙂

Have you ever created a kraft-colored project or would you ever consider it?

 

 

 

Tri-shutter Birthday Card for a Guy

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Hi all!

Today I’m sharing another idea for a birthday card to send to a man in your life. As for its shape, it’s a so-called tri-shutter card. I cut this one with a special die (by Crealies), but you can cut these yourself as well, just check out my free video tutorial, which I’ll embed again at the end of this blog post for your convenience.

For decoration I used Oxford, a nicely colorful collection by Basic Grey with mostly masculine overtones. I also did some stamping: a circle-shaped Happy Birthday stamp on the front, and some smaller gift-wrapped presents on the other panels which I fussy-cut and then lifted with some dimensional tape. And last but not least a Kaisercraft birthday sentiment which I stamped in two colors on the center panel.

 

A tri-shutter card fits into a regular envelope
Kaisercraft sentiment stamp on the center panel, stamped in two colors

My video tutorial on how to make a tri-shutter card:

 

Birds in a Tree Tea Box

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Now and again I like to vary my craft technique and leave papercrafting for a short while to dabble in decoupaging. I use this technique mainly to alter wooden or porcelain objects, like gift boxes but also candles, coffee mugs and even a lamp!

Usually I paint such an object white or ivory first, so that the napkin’s colors will show clear & bright. With the tea box I’m sharing today however, I started decoupaging without painting it white first. This made for warm wood colors, and also caused the box title Thee (= Dutch for Tea) on the lid to show through nicely.

After adhering the parts of the napkin I wanted to use, I painted the rest of the box around them in a warm forest green and added some glitter accents. Of course I covered the whole thing with boat varnish to protect it from all things Liquid – a prudent measure if you’re anything like Clumsy Me 🙂

By the way, an altered tea boxes makes for a great gift!

 

 

 

French Country Memory Box (Handmade)

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My friend asked me to create a memory box, like the ones I showed you earlier only larger. She chose the beautiful, romantically rural French Country collection by Graphic 45 – especially since she loves France.

This handmade storage box is pretty large and can hold lots of memorabilia, or even one or more mini albums!
Its dimensions are 19 x 22 cm (7½ x 8 5/8”) and it is 16 cm (6¼”) high, custom-fitted both to the largest and the widest card of a set of cards she wanted to keep in the box, and to the height of the set of cards when stacked on top of eachother, which was 15 cm (6″).

I followed my own box-making tutorial, but with the new dimensions of course. I also came up with a small technique improvement along the way.

I added both the improved instruction and a bonus cutting guide with the new measurements to the existing tutorial – which means all of you guys who already own this tutorial (which is #17 in my shop) can now redownload it for free to get the improved version, and will also get the new cutting guide for free!

New customers will of course also get this new version + the cutting guide in one purchase.

 

I decorated the box with several cutaparts from the collections and two door pulls. On the lid I also used some flowers, charms and buttons, and a hand-painted wooden letter. All in all these beautiful papers are a perfect summer or fall collection, with gorgeous, full colors.

 

 

September Serenity: Three Outdoors Cards (with nature sounds only)

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The three cards I’m sharing with you today were made with Bo Bunny‘s Trail Mix collection, filmed in the serenity of my mother’s garden on a sweet Summer’s day 🙂
And those are the actual birds in her garden you’re hearing, even some baby birds crying for their mom and dad to hurry up already bring them something to eat! 🙂

All three cards have their own unique design, so enjoy a moment of pieceful quiet – and while you’re at it, have a nice cup of tea!

While you’re here – please like & subscribe, and/or leave a comment and let me know what you think!

 

 

 

 

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Four Seasons Sturdy Folio Album

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Hi guys, I’m very happy to present my latest design: a very sturdio folio album, which I’ve therefore dubbed Sturdio 🙂 .

It consists of three accordion-fold page assemblies, rolled into one neat mini album. This one’s theme is the Four Seasons, since I used Graphic 45’s beautiful floral calendar collection Time to Flourish. I kept the months in their proper order, thereby creating three trimesters for one entire year of pictures.

I was completely in the Zone when I designed and created this, which is why I haven’t been able to write a tutorial. I promise I will write one this year, and thank you for your patience, for it will take me creating a second one of these sturdios.

Anyway, enjoy the video and pictures, and do let me know what you think in the comments section! See you next week! 🙂

 

 

 

30th Wedding Anniversary Explosion Box

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A short while ago a lady asked me to create an explosion box to suprise her husband for their 30th wedding anniversary. She had seen my Still in Love explosion box, and hoped I could create a similar one, but of course customized to her specific likes and wishes.

Since I still had enough of DCWV’s Natural stack, I set out to create another one of my explosion boxes. It has two layers with an altered miniature treasure chest hidden inside. The lady sent me some thoughts and feelings about her beloved husband, and some pictures of her family and their dog, all of which I incorporated as creatively as I could.

I was very happy to hear that the lady and her beloved loved it and are continually adding little personal memorabilia to it!

Like to create an explosion box yourself? Check out my tutorial, explaining the process of creating a three-layer explosion box in 80 pages and 190 pictures!

So, here’s the end result, enjoy!

 

The first two tags of these three were made with some tag die sets by Crealies:

 

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Laugh Love Forever – a Ma Cherie Butterflies Layout

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Hello everyone!

This week I’m sharing a layout with you, for which I chose the beautiful Ma Cherie collection by Kaisercraft – with its soft burgundy color scheme, full of lovely florals. Of this collection, the Exquisite sheet, covered in absolutely gorgeous butterflies, simply demanded to be fussy-cut – even though that’s not my favorite thing to do.

The layout is centered around my mother, who as an Autumn Type was the perfect subject for this project since she can really rock an ocre jacket like no one else, especially when standing next to her own Burgundy & Gold acryllic painting 🙂

Materials used:

  • Kaisercraft Ma Cherie paper collection, 12×12 sheets: Darling, Exquisite and Glamour
  • Kaisercraft Ma Cherie Collectables die-cuts
  • Kaisercraft paper blooms (Ruby)
  • Kaisercraft flowers (Sepia)
  • Kaisercraft clear stamp Scallop Lace
  • Petaloo Penny Lane Garden collection, Mixed Blossoms – Antique Rose
  • Bo Bunny clear stamp Curly Q

Enjoy the show & tell video – and don’t forget to check out the lovely close up pictures below!

 

Altered a frame with metallic (red copper) paint and some flowers

On the wall, next to one of my other layouts! 🙂

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