Everyday Quirky-ness

Hi there fellow crafty & quirky types.

I've been living with my Juicy Fruit Quirky kit for a few weeks now and, as I'm the kind of person who likes to leave stash within eye-shot [if that's even a word!!] in order to mull it over and happen upon an interesting way to use it, I've had this kit spread out on my craft room floor since it arrived.

I've been wanting to use the 'Cute Strawberry Label' acrylic stamp, which Leo had custom-made for this kit, from the start but wanted to wait for two things before using it. Those two things were:

1. waiting for the strawberries to ripen on the plant we have in our garden and
2. thinking of an interesting way to show it off!!!

Upon an inspection of our solitary strawberry plant yesterday afternoon I could rule out #1 straight away! A project based around a punnet of our first home-grown, ripe, red juicy strawbs is a loooong, long way off yet [yet, despite that, they will be featuring on a layout very soon anyway!]. So, instead, I thought I've come up with some ways in which you can turn your little strawberry stamp into the star of your daily domestic adventures!!! Here are a few suggestions.

Customise sticky labels to seal envelopes and parcels:

Stamp onto mini-Post-It notes to draw attention to important info in your diary: Create a colourful 'To Do' list:
If you're interested in further Post-It based inspiration you might be entertained by some of the amazing feats captured in one of these videos . They're not at all related to the Quirky kit ... but they are most certainly 'quirky' ...and I thought you might enjoy them as much as I do!

Set a personalised place at the table [cherry design ribbon and bugle beads: also from the kit]:

Finally .... [and less formally].... remind someone of what they mean to you with a surprise note:
I've loved finding small, yet useful, ways to use my 'Cute Strawberry Label' stamp but I'm sure you can find many more ways to put it to use in your everday lives. If so, don't be shy, there are no prizes for modesty here .... show us what you make!!!

As always, we'd love to see any projects you make using the Quirky kits. You can leave us a link in the comments section, come and chat with us on our thread over on http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/ or failing that ...you can always wave your projects under my nose if you see me around ...

I'll be back with more Quirky kit projects soon,

Julie :)

Getting busy with the Juice Fruit Quirky Kit

I've been having loads of fun with this kit this past week so thought I'd share what I've made so far. Here's a quick cute card made with one of the Kitschy Digitals tags. I stitched some of the beads on around the edge of the tag, added some of the cherry ribbon to a card blank and the tag on top. To finish the card I added the message and a bow with the polka dot ribbon.

I followed the sketch on the Scrap Like You Mean It challenge here to make this layout. I used the melon paper for the background (the back of it) and then used trims from the other papers and some of the ribbons to build up the background. I made some of the strips in to kind of flag shaped just cutting them into shape with scissors. Some of the paper edges have been distressed by dragging open scissors along the edges. I've also added machine stitching to the background, it's rather haphazard but if you wanted to make it neater you could do that - use it to add frames or highlight points of interest on your layout.

You can see here in detail the effect if scissor distressing the paper edges. I've also used paint here to add a different distressed look. This one is a Raspberry Paint Dabber - the colour matches the papers really well.

This next layout I made using the Bonne Bonne paper. This time to distress the edges I used a paintbrush dipped in water to wet the edges and then rolled the paper over. I wanted something that looked more of a natural colour to contrast with the acid yellow for this layout so I used an old canvas bag cut up to make a square of canvas then used a Mini Mister (you can use any kind of spray bottle) and sprayed yellow ink on to the canvas to echo the sprayed effect already on the paper. This was then machine stitched to the background. The photo and title was mounted onto a scrap of some Bazzill Kraft cardstock and that was also machine stitched to the layout. To finish I added some trim and a button and then stamped the 'yummy' on to one of the Kitschy Digitals tags and stapled it to the layout.

Here you can see the detail of the sprayed canvas stitched to the layout.

Finally this one Incorporated all the above techniques. The background is the Bazzill Kraft cardstock. First I sprayed on the yellow ink and let that dry flat. Next I worked out the placement of the photos and then used the alphabet stickers in the top left of the background as a mask spraying black ink over the letters. If you have a go at this you need to make sure it dries before you peel off the stickers. I put the peeled off letters on a piece of plastic to save them for later. Next I used a piece of the strawberry paper cut to 7.5x12 and distressed the edges with scissors then attached it with machine stitching to the right side of the background. At this point I added the photos - some of the middle ones that cross the papers I used 3D foam pads to attach them on. The title was then added, I used a mixture of alphabet stickers (including the ones used earlier to make the sprayed title) and stamps. The journalling again is on a tag cut from the Kitschy Digitals sheet. Finally I added the flowers they were made from off cuts of paper cut into a circle which you then cut a spiral in to and roll it up from the center. The tighter the spiral you cut the flatter then flower will be and obviously the larger the circle you cut the larger your flower will be. I used a glue gun to attach them to the layout.


That's what I've done so far and still got lots to use up yet!
xx Leo

Juicy Fruit!

The brand new fun, bright and utterly cute Quirky kit - 'Juicy Fruit' - is here and the summer sunshine seems to have appeared just in time to welcome it. The colours and themes of the kit are just ideal for all those photos of summer holidays you have lounging in that box in the cupboard or those on the computer, the ones you keep meaning to print off and scrap with...yes, those ones, or even the photos you've yet to take on this year's break away! This kit is your perfect excuse / opportunity to sit yourself outside in the sun and get a little summertime scrapping done.

The first page I've created with my kit features my very sweet new art doll hand-madeby Cathy Cullis [you can read the story behind it here].
The 'Hello' sticker, the journaling block, three of the buttons and the gorgeous green cherries are from the 'Juicy Fruit' kit, but everything else I've used was from my own stash.

I made this layout as part of an online class I'm taking and I adapted the kit to fit the specific challenge set in the class notes. I also wanted to show how elements of the kit, can easly blend in with softer shades and your existing scrapping supplies. It was great working to fit the brief in the class challenge ... I think sometimes we all need a push in the right direction and often the structure of a class or challenge can help free us up to just make something without too much 'ummming and ahhhing' and putting off sticking something down!!

If you feel like a new challenge why not have a look here at the Scrapbook Calls blog which has a great new feature; a long and comprehensive list of current challenge blogs for you to browse through. Try looking through a few and get creating straight away with your new Juicy Fruit kit. Or you could always check out the second challenge on the brand new challenge blog I've set up with Kirsty Neale,we'd love for you to come and join in with us at 'Copy & Paste' .

Even closer to home, there's also lots of inspiration right under your nose right now ...just here, look, be careful, you're almost tripping over it!! Leo has some beautiful templates in the Crafty Templates store for you to download, have a look here for the various categories available [if you look closely, you might even spot the freebie templates which she spoils us with!!].

I think the amazing, bright, double sided Rose Moka papers in the Juicy Fruit kit would be perfect to use on either of these adorable crafty projects, or the exploding box ... or the envelopes ...or the mini-books ... or ... pretty much everything!

We'd love to see the juicy fruits of your crafting labours, leave us a comment or a link to your projects or, if you're a member of UKScrappers come and join us for a chat on our Quirky Kit thread.

Enjoy the kit and the sunshine! Happy scrapping.

Julie :)

May Sneaky Peek

Exciting sneak peek news! This May the new card making kit for the first time will be an entirely digital kit featuring super cute custom designed papers and accessories to download and print out as you like!

Here's the first peek of a few of the papers in printed form....

The kit will be released as usual on the 1st of May as a one off digital download available only till the end of May.
xx Leo

Another few 'Things About Me'.

Hello all. I just thought I'd share another page from my '25 Things About Me' list which I'm scrapping using the latest Quirky kit: 'Note to Self' .
Luckily for me [and the 19 'things' I have left to scrap] this kit is jam-packed and bursting with bright, unusual and interesting items - so I'm not in any danger of running out just yet.

[For more of the pages I've made using the 'Quirky Kits' - past and present - then feel free to have a wander around my Crafty Templates Flickr set.]

I think my favourite thing on this whole page is the Sassafras Lass Paper Whimsies card [with the arrows] and I tried to match everyhting else on the layout to it's lovely combination of red, purple, black and white. And that strawberry trimming was just too nice to hide so I simply stapled it to my paper with about an inch overhanging so that it can be handled and used to turn the page as I'm not using any page protectors in my album of lists and randomness which it will be going in.

I know that this page is perhaps a little odd in places. For one thing it has no photograph, which isn't a way I usually work outside of Circle Journal entries, but it's one which I'm finding a really satisfying and quick means to achieve a finished piece. Add to that my little magazine clipping and the angry little speech bubble stickers [a gift from a friend - not from the kit] and I suppose I'm fulfilling my role as a designer with a 'Quirky kit'.

But just how quirky does that make me ... or you for that matter? To find out just how quirky you are then take the very quick How Quirky are You? personality quiz I stumbled across last week.

Luckily for me, it judged me to be quite far along the 'Quirky' scale and said I resided in an 'Alternative Universe' ... so now that it's official, I guess that means I get to keep my job as quirky kit designer for the time being!!!!

It'd be great fun to hear how you get on with your kits ...and the quiz!

:)

Note To Self: 4 down ... 21 to go!

Here's the first page I've made using the latest Quirky Scrapbooking Kit: 'Note to Self'.

Last week on my blog I mentioned how I intended to scrap my list of '25 Things About Me' - which a friend on Facebook prompted me to try out before Christmas. So I've started ... I've only got up to No.4 but wanted to share how perfect the latest kit is for scrapping this kind of focus on journaling.

I wrote my list directly onto the Adornit ‘Notebook’ paper from the kit [Which I'd layered on to a 6X12 sheet of kraft Bazzill - not from the kit]. I then cut the cute little bird from one of the Petra Bose sheets of patterned wrap and tucked him beneath the gorgeous custom made ‘Note This’ Ring a Roses embellishment. To draw together all of the colours I'd already chosen I used the scalloped edging from a sheet of Sassafras Lass, some of the hand-dyed baby blue crochet lace, a strip of graph-paper design, again cut from the Petra Bose patterned wrap and finally added some of the co-ordinating vintage buttons especially selected by Leo for this kit.

To stamp my '25 Things' accent I used a really basic interchangeable office supply stamp for a retro feel inspired by the vintage feel of the Note to Self kit itself. I didn't even mind when it stamped unevenly and left black lines across the card - I like a certain amount of imperfection [and if I'm totally honest, I can't really avoid it, so am really better off embracing it!!!].

To create my list I've used Banana Frog Steelfish Outline Numbers with a mix of coloured inks which again draw together the colours I'd picked out from within the kit. Leo too has found that Banana Frog stamps work well with this kit as she demonstrates below:

Leo recently won a challenge on the Banana Frog blog and her prize was a set of their brand new 'It's All About ... Documenting' stamps. As Leo points out: "they do make the perfect accompaniment to Note to Self so I had to share, there's even a little 'note to self' line in the set!".

I'll be back soon with more projects using the glorious kit ... perhaps I'll even manage to get the remaining 21 Things About Me scrapped!

This is such a bright, versatile and eclectic kit that I most definitely am in love with it and I know Leo feels particularly proud of how it all came together. So, we'd love to know what you think of it and your plans for how you're going to use yours. Better still why don't you leave us a link to any projects you've made. Please don't be shy, after all on my layout I do share with you the fact that I have a habit of chewing bits of plastic ... surely that counts for something???

You know where to find me.

Julie

:D

Scrap Like You Mean it With Fabric.....

This week we have a special Quirky Kit called 'Fabric Sundae' for you to work with along with the current Scrap Like You Mean it challenge on UKScrappers which if you didn't know yet is for everyone to make a scrapbook page with fabric. Quirky Kits are all about making or using something a little bit more unusual than the usual so what better way to play along with a challenge to use something you wouldn't normally use in you scrapping!
If you didn't get a kit to play along with then raid your sewing cupboard (or the sewing cupboard of someone who has a sewing cupboard?) and grab some felt, fabric scraps, thread and have a play. Here Julie who shows you loads of wonderful things to do with Crafty Templates Quirky Kits shows you what she did with her Fabric Sundae Quirky Kit........

Scrap Like You Mean It: Scrapping With Fabric

If you’ve never scrapped with fabric before then don’t panic. It’s really not that different from using paper. It can be layered up onto the base cardstock of your layout like any paper and, when using it in this way, I’ve found no need to use anything other than my regular tape rollers or double sided tapes to secure it.

It can also be used to create your embellishments as Leo has done with her handmade rosette included in the kit. You can also draw or stamp simple appliqué style designs [such as hearts, flowers, birds] onto fabric cut them out and add them to your page either with DST, glue or even by sewing them directly onto your cardstock. Most sewing machines will easily stitch through a layer of fabric and card at the same time - plus you can experiment with contrasting cotton colours along with the different stitch designs and settings on your machine.

You can use your fabric to journal with. Try cutting out large individual letters for your titles, write directly onto paler, less patterned fabrics using a fabric pen or even stitch your message directly onto your swatch. This can be done either freehand, as I did on my layout, or using traditional [and straighter!] cross-stitches.

One of the reasons I enjoy using fabrics in my work is that you can treat it badly and yet it’s a very forgiving material. It can disguise any lumps and bumps you’ve made on a page, helping you cover up your mistakes. If it tears or frays the effect only adds to the texture and creates a unique tactile quality to the work. It can be ironed back to perfection if you’ve accidentally creased and crumpled it or it can even look interesting and artistic even if you want to leave it crumpled and say you did it deliberately!!

So here’s how I ‘scrapped like I meant it’ with fabric:

- I wanted to showcase the adorable Russian doll design fabric, to mirror the little dolls in my photo, so I cut a strip of it and displayed it across the bottom of my page.

- I often use fabric in flat strips like this but, inspired by a layout in Ashley Calder’s incredible book Scraptastic I was eager to add in something different.

- To make use of its texture and depth I worked my way around my page, from bottom to top, looping the yellow felt and red polka-dot fabric strips and securing them along their top edges with Crafter’s Pick ‘Incredibly Tacky’ glue.

- There’s a whole skein of embroidery thread included in the kit and, even after using it to wonkily hand stitch my title, there were metres of it left over.

- Wanting to capture some of its silky textural quality, which is best displayed while it’s all still looped together, I left it in a bundle and simply glued it straight on to my cardstock backing.

- I added extra colour and detail by looping up the bright pink ribbon and turquoise faux suede strip and tucking them under the next layer of fabric or covering the top with a button to disguise my adhesive.
[My backing paper is American Crafts ‘Study Hall’ and I used Adornits alphabet stickers – everything else came from the ‘Fabric Sundae Quirky Kit’].Along with producing a layout with your fabric, you could also try covering the pages of a mini book. This works especially well as you get to handle the finished item and enjoy the tactile quality which fabric brings to your work. One of my favourite projects of all time is this mini tag book: http://notesonpaper.blogspot.com/2008/12/shining-example.html which I decorated with off-cuts of polka dot fabric and which I keep closed using a safety pin!

Hope you enjoy scrapping like you mean it with your Fabric Sundae as much as I did.
Julie

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If you'd like to print out Julie's tips and LO I've put together a PDF version you can save and/or print off to use you can download it click on this link:

http://www.craftytemplates.co.uk/SLYMIJuliekirk.pdf

Loving Julie's layout!

If you'd like some more things to play with I've also picked out some Templates from past sets and projects that I thought would be fun to use with fabric both of which I used on my own layout. If you're not sure how to use them here's what I do with them:

Print the template off and roughly cut it out (don't cut along the line just cut it out of the sheet so there's a space around it). Turn it over and dab a little Pritt Stick on the back then stick the fabric/felt to it. Turn it back over and then cut out the template sheet, carefully sticking to the line and cutting through both the paper and the fabric. When you're done peel the paper off and you have your shape perfectly cut out.

I picked out the Fancy Frames template and the Poppy Flowers template.

You can download them both from here just click on the above links.

Here's the page I came up with. It's mothers day soon so I thought of making a special page for mum. The felt flower I made with the Poppy Flower template (my mum's fave flowers) and the Fancy Frame template I cut out from the fabric in the Quirky Kit and then just inked around the edge, just like you normally would with paper.

If you want to use some other freebie Crafty Templates have a peek on the Freebie page.

I also made my own fabric brad with the dolly fabric. If you want to have a go at that all you need is a large brad (I used one of the Dovecraft jumbo ones from my stash) a sewing needle and from your Fabric Sundae kit a small scrap of your felt a single strand piece of your thread and a square of your fabric that has a motif in the center ...........

Stick the felt to the front of the brad with doublesided tape then cut around the edge. Turn the brad over and open out the prongs. Place the fabric under the brad so your chosen motif is central on the front of the brad. Stitch a running stitch around the brad so there's a small space around the edge and then pull as tight as you can so the fabric wraps around the edge of the brad.Close the prongs and then put more stitches across the back of the brad to pull together the loose fabric edges and make the edge really neat. When it looks right make a knot with a stitch and cut it off to finish. Push the prongs back to how they looked originally. There you have your finished fabric brad. Once you've made one it gets easier to do and you can have great fun inventing your own brad designs!

Hope you have fun with your fabric and don't forget at the end of the week Julie is going to pick out her favourite scrapping with fabric layout from those uploaded to the UKScrappers Scrap Like You Mean it gallery, http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=7264

I've got a pizza box full of Quirky Kit goodies for the winner!

Happy scrapping!

xx Leo