Frosted Designs 12 Day of Christmas Challenge

Front of birthday calendar - interchangeable months

Back of birthday calendar - pages interchangeable like the front

Frosted Designs had a 12 days of Christmas challenge with 12 different challenges to be completed by Dec 31st. I had seen two pins on Pinterest that intrigued me, of Christmas advent calendars made from an IKEA photo frame. The last time I was in Sydney I went to IKEA and bought myself a frame but that was as far as it got. This seemed like the perfect opportunity make a birthday calendar based on the advent calendar idea. With 12 months and 12 challenges it was perfect (although I did change the way the calendar worked)!

I managed to complete 10 of the 12 challenges so far and hopefully will get an opportunity to complete the other 2 as well. I have all the months except August and December completed. I used the same packs of papers from Creative Memories (Enchanted - printed papers and embossed cardstock) for the project. All the month titles were die cut out of these papers using my MFT Die-namics By the Letters cutting die.

Here are my challenge entries: 

January - Challenge #3 - use three mists, paints or inks

Along with the mini numbers collage template (TCW210s) from The Crafter's Workshop, I used three Distress inks (peeled paint, fired brick, and weathered wood) to make the background on a plain part of one of the papers, then cut out a vine from the edge of the paper to lay on top.

February - Challenge #12 - use at least 12 brads

I die cut the heart with my Cheery Lynn Large Heartland of America die (using only the small heart part), and a vine with my Fancy That Leafy Vine die. I then used a Mijemoo Flip it brads n eyelets guide to place the 24 (!) black brads for the heart shape.

March - Challenge #1 - use a bird

A friend had sent me a bird cage die, so along with the Stampin Up! two step bird punch I cut out a bird and several leaves for this month.

April - Challenge #4 - use four different patterned papers

An easy challenge! I actually used five patterned papers for this one when you include the background paper. The branch was die cut with the Memory Box Woodland branch die (not that you can see much of it anymore!), and the leaves were cut with the Fancy That Mixed Leaves die.

May - Challenge #2 - use two stamps

Using distress inks, I stamped the Stampin up! En Francais and Medallion stamps on the embossed cardstock, before adding the month title.  

June - Challenge #6 - use six strips of washi tape

This one was difficult for me. I wasn't sure how to incorporate the tape, especially as I only had a limited supply of tapes (four to be exact and two with clashing colours!). Then I remembered the Fancy That Sprockets and Gears die and the tape seemed to go with them. I laid down the six pieces of tape (three above and three below the title) and put the cogs on top, and in the end I love how this one turned out!

July - Challenge #7 - use seven sparkly snowflakes

While it rarely snows in Canberra, July is winter and many of our friends go to the snowy mountains to go skiing then, so that seemed to be the most logical month for snowflakes. I cut two larger snowflakes from white paper with the Marianne Design Creatables snowflake die, then punched the smaller ones with a Creative Memories punch. I painted the smaller flakes with moonlight Smooch and added some bling to the centre of each one. I tried to distress the edges of the page with white versamark ink, but it just seemed to soak into the cardstock so I ended up painting some streaks of the smooch onto the background to look a bit like falling snow - well that was the theory anyway!

August - not done yet - intending to use challenge 8 - use eight different brands/products on your project

September - Challenge #10 - use 10 buttons

Another easy one, and one of the first ones I completed. I simply die cut 10 flowers with my Joycrafts daisy die, then added buttons to the centre of each. Having recently been involved with cleaning up my in-law's property for sale, I 'inherited' quite a stash of buttons so had many to choose from! I added a butterfly (Cheery Lynn small exotic butterflies die) for a pop of colour.

October - Challenge #9 - use 9 pearls or sparkles

I added 9 pearls to the Marianne Design Creatables (LR0115) butterfly die cut and T in the title. 

November - Challenge #11 - use 11 banner flags

OK  so I actually have 12 banner flags on this one. I was intending to use the Fancy That Fiesta Flags for the banners on this one, but they were too large, so I had to use the MFT Die-namics Mini Pennant die instead. But then I felt the top right corner was a bit bare so I used one of the fiesta flags that I had already cut to fill it up.

December - not done yet - intending to use Challenge #5 - use five gold things.

Now all I have to do is finish the last two months and make a box to keep the other months in while one is on display. What do you think? I'd love to see your creations if you make one too...

Till next time, happy days!

Francine

Nara Candle Festival

Here's my latest layout for the Sketches with a Twist challenge. This month the twist was to use something green on your layout along with the sketch. Well, since I'm in to green at the moment that wasn't hard, so I used several green patterned papers on a brown cardstock background.

Following the sketch was easy and the layout came together quite quickly. I cut the banner pieces out with the MFT  Die-namics mini pennant die, hand stitched the string for the banner, and sewed on a few  buttons. The medallion and the little green paper "buttons" were cut out with the Nellie Snellen MFD030 die. the scalloped border was cut out (twice) with the MFT Die-namics wonky scallop border die. The papers are from my stash so I'm not sure what brand they are. The candle sticker is from Elizabeth Craft Designs. It was silver so I coloured it with a gold pen. I added a few gold brads, the journalling, some gold sticker letters which have been sitting in my stash for a very long time, and the layout was done!

 

The pictures come from the Nara Candle Festival. This event was in its 18th year in 2011. It celebrates the Sister City relationship between Canberra, and Nara Japan. There were over 2000 candles as well as lots of Japanese crafts, demonstrations and food. Last October was the first time that we actually made it to the Festival despite wanting to go almost each year since we've been in Canberra! It was very interesting and we will probably go again, hopefully this year.

I still have another layout to share with you, but I'm not sure if I'll get to post it today or not, so, till next time, happy days.

Francine

What more (could I ask for?)

Well when I saw that the challenge at Use it Tuesday was birthdays, I decided it was about time I did a birthday layout about myself. I think I have made one of everyone else in the family at one time or another, so it was my turn. My last birthday was really good too. I think I had been feeling a bit down and my husband sent me the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers at work, then we went out for dinner at a beautiful local restaurant, I got quite a few presents and Kyaa made me cupcakes so what more could I ask for? It's was just too bad that Logan was away at a school camp for a few days.

Everything on this layout was from my stash. That's mostly what I'm doing these days. I do still buy little embellishments from time to time when I see them on special, but I hardly ever buy anything else.  The papers are from Basic Grey and TLC, the kraft background cardstock is Stampin Up! and the red embossed cardstock is from Core'dinations. The yellow mulberry paper is ancient and has been in my stash for at over 7 years! The only thing that is new is the star bling by The Paper Mill, which I bought on special last week.

I recently found a link on Pinterest to a tutorial about making the edges of mulberry paper "feathery". It's simple really, just wet the edge and pull the end of the paper away. Then in the tutorial they used a toothbrush to brush out the edges, but I simply "combed" the paper between my fingers and that worked fine for the look I was after. As I didn't want the tape to show through the mulberry paper, I stitched in down instead. It added a great frame to the paper rectangle as well. 

For the banner across the top I used the My Favorite Things banner day die and stuck them onto some bakery twine that I bought at the Sydney Paper Craft Festival last November. I've tried o use this twine in several layouts recently and the colour has never been right, so I'm glad I finally go to use some!

I used this great sketch from Sketch Support. They even provide printable directions with the sizes of all the paper pieces for the layout so it's very easy to put together. If you haven't seen them before, be sure to check them out - there are lots of finished layouts as well for great inspiration.

Till next time, happy days.

Francine

What a Galah

Here is my latest layout for Frosted Designs, Sketch Along Tuesdays Sketch #33. Apologies for the photo, but it was taken at night. The colours are quite wrong - the cardstock base is dark grey and the patterned papers are more pink, rather than peachy.  I've uploaded better photos now that were taken during the day. 

This is the sketch. I turned it 90 degrees. 
All the papers are from my stash, as are the brads, sequins, beads and floss. I cut the bird out with a Stampin Up two step bird punch. The flower and leaf sequins around the circle's edge were attached with brads, but the other flower sequins were attached by sewing seed beads to their centres. To add some definition around the centre circle I stitched a grey floss border. 
The flower printed vellum under the long pink paper strip was cut with a MFT wonky border die. I then embossed it with the Swiss dots folder.
The main part of the title was die cut with the Cuttlebug Baby Face die and placed on a die cut file tab, and the smaller part was printed on Dymo tape. Here are a few close ups.

Till next time, happy days!
Francine

A letter to Kyaa

I'm so proud of my daughter. She is growing into a lovely young woman; responsible, sensible, and hard working among other things. I decided to make a layout to hold a letter to her about how much I love her and how proud of her I am. It just so happened that it also coincided with challenge  #24 over at Use it Tuesday to do a layout about love, all while using up your scraps! I've just discovered this challenge blog, and anything that encourages me to use up what I have rather than buy more is a good thing!

So here's my layout.

Everything on it has been in my stash, some things for six or seven years! The only new things I used are the cutting dies that I got for Christmas, but the paper I cut with them is from my stash. Let's see if I can tell you all the products I used:

• cardstock and purple patterned paper for large heart are both from TLC kits from my TLC selling days
• vellum from Paper Pleasing Ideas (now out of business) to cover chipboard K, top of the banner, flower stamens, and to make the letters for the title
• chipboard K by Making Memories
• cream/green patterned paper, rubons, ribbon, sticky backed pearls - unknown
• Postmarks background stamp from Kaisercraft

Cutting dies used:

• Cuttlebug Baby Face for letters (now discontinued?)
• Cheery Lynn Designs Fanciful Flourish
• Cheery Lynn Designs Heartland America Large (heart with ribbon on K, heart between the photos and doily flowers at top of K)
• Cheery Lynn Designs Exotic Butterfly small
• My Favorite Things Die-namics Banner Day
• My Favorite Things Die-namics Mini Pennants
• My Favorite Things Die-namics Prima Donna Petals (one of my favourites!)

And just in case you were wondering where the actual letter is - it's hidden behind the dark purple heart, but it's for my daughter's eyes only!

Till next time, happy days.

Francine

Bract vs Flower

 
I completed this layout for the October Get Picky sketch challenge. It's their one year anniversary and they're having a blog hop as well! Of course I've left it to the last minute again as the challenge closes at midnight tonight, but I did manage to get it finished! 

Kaleidoscope before cutting with the decorative doily die

Kaleidoscope before cutting with the lotus die

Other than the ribbons and flowers from my stash I made all of my own embellishments. I made a couple of kaleidoscopes from the photos and then die cut them with my Big Shot. I made a couple of other die cuts from paper from my stash and used some glimmer mist with a brass stencil that I had forgotten I had. I used some fired brick distress ink to colour the edges of the papers, and after cutting the letters for the title out of the pink polka dot paper that I used, I coloured them with my Sakura Stardust pens (Rose Star and Gold Star) so they would match the pink bracts picture and the yellow flower picture. That was pretty much it - finished!

journalling

I do have several more layouts to share, I just need to find some time to post them first.

Die-Namics decorative doily die cut

Till next time, happy days!

Francine

Fillable Frames Die #10

Decorative Label punch (EK Success/SU)

Limitless layers (circle B/lotus 3")

Cuttlebug Baby Face alphabet (for letters)

Cuttlebug Typewriter (for small arrows)

EZ Cut Small Corner#2 (Sullivans)misting through Anna Griffin Brass stencil (5800S)

Always in our Heart

Oh my goodness, where did September go?! While I completed a few things I haven't posted anything, but I really wanted to show you this one!

This layout is one that I made with the August Wrapped in Paper monthly challenge kit. There was little in the way of paper in it, only one full sheet of  patterned paper (I can't remember the maker now), a half A4 sheet of gold and black striped paper and a half 12"x12" piece of Teresa Collins lace look paper. For the rest there were two flowers, a chipboard heart, two pieces of lace and a length of ribbon. The paper had a large carnival scene on one side so I used the reverse which was a deep maroon colour, although it is showing as more purple/red in this photo :(


I was inspired to make this layout by this one by Celeste Vermeend that I saw on the Scrap the Boys challenge site. I absolutely loved all the layering of papers and bits and pieces and just had to scraplift it. So thank you Celeste for the inspiration!


I ended up raiding my stash to find things to use. I found several papers and die cuts with gold to match the gold/black striped paper. I also embossed some black cardstock and then rubbed gold ink across it. I still had a few printed chipboard embellishments from an old TLC kit, and a frame that I picked up somewhere in my travels. I diecut some daisies from the papers as well as the large butterfly and doily. I stamped the "En Francais" (SU) background stamp on a label diecut and found a small printed vellum butterfly as well as a small metal key. I also added some buttons and scraps of a floral patterned paper and some gold corner stickers. The stark black and white Teresa Collins lace paper didn't go with the rest of the layout, so I used some fired brick distress ink to colour it. 

butterfly die cut from Marianne Creatables

The photograph is of my grandmother a few years before she died. The colours in the photo were all wrong with the papers so I turned it into a sepia tone picture (after much ado - but that's another story!). 


All in all I love the way this turned out, and the visitors to Wrapped in Paper obviously thought so too since I found out today that I won the September monthly challenge! Yippee!

Padlock and key - spellbinders die cut

I'll leave you with some more close-ups.

Till next time, happy days!
Francine