Decorating my explosion box...

Just a quick post - busy finishing off my exploding box. Here are some taggy bits that I've made for it. They are clear embossed stamps on brown Kraft cardstock, with a bit of distressing and I've lightened the inner bit of the image by rubbing some moonlight white chalk ink on them which really brings out the contrast in them. Cool. Even printed out some photies too so, watch this space for more images soon.

New Year - New Christmas Mini To Do...

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2012, to all you crafty peeps out there! Hope you're scrapping or at least doing something creative with all the photos you have taken over the festive season. Or not, if you're me. Well, it's not that I'm not doing anything creative cos as you can see I've made a start with this years mini, the only thing is I don't seem to have many photos of this Christmas at all. Must've been too busy opening pressies or something (or in the kitchen cooking probably!). Never mind, I have no ink to print them out anyway which gives me time to take pics of favourite pressies and pretend I took them all on the 25th. No-one will ever know I "cheated".
Anyhoo, here's a sneak peak of what is on my messy old table at the moment. It's not nearly finished as I haven't done any titles or journalling yet but while I'm getting round to taking some photos and getting printer ink, I think I might do a wee exploding box which I've taken a notion to making. I made one of these about 5 years ago and it was fun. This one is a bit different this time round with pockets and flaps instead of just layers, so its a new challenge. Stay tuned to see if I can work out from the instructions how to do it!
Love to you all,
Jak
xxx

Sewing a Sock Kitten....

Well who'd 've thunk it!
Me sewing! Aaaaargh!
And at the busiest time of the year!
That is Pester Power for you. Sadie is the Queen of Pester Power and I have been mithered relentlessly since this little parcel was opened Christmas morning. So much so that I was actually (almost) glad to get to work for a break from the incessant "Will you help me make my Sock Kitten Mummy pleeeeeease?" trilling in my ears! However by yesterday afternoon I'd run out of excuses and was actually feeling a bit guilty about dodging this duty that I kinda thought I'd better show willing and just get the job done if only for the sake of my ears...

So here in all its glory...





And so admired and grateful was my little Belle that she couldn't wait to get off to bed with he who has been named Mittens Stripey Strachan!
Bless!
Kinda made it all worthwhile ... maybe. Can I just add that Millie got one too but she surely must be old enough to sew it herself by now...surely?

Oh. And when we got up this morning, Mittens looked like this...



Hahahaha - he'd lost an eye! Eeek!
D'oh - better go. I have a Sock Kitten in need of emergency opthalmic surgery!!!!
Happy New Year to everyone!
Jak
xxx
PS - don't ask me to sew for you. Ever!

8x8 bonus post!

Well lookey here!
I've managed to squeeze in another post! Here's a layout I was working on at my last craft club night (Merry Christmas ladies!). It needed a few finishing touches to complete it and finally I'm happy with the way it has turned out. It was inspired by the LO on the cover of the first issue of Scrap365. I really like the splashy paint style - a bit more lively and defo fun to indulge in. My first attempt didn't quite work though - I used the "wrong" colours and it ended up looking like some kind of horror/bloodbath, crime scene layout! That had to go as it was totally distracting and did nothing for the small photo. In the end I went over with a soft pink paint that complimented the colours in the pic instead! Ah well that's what its all about - some you win, some you have to work a bit harder with! Hope you like it anyway.
Have a very Merry Christmas everypeeps!
Lots of love
Jak
xxx

Festive Greetings....

Hiya my crafty friends! This will most likely be my final post this year (maybe) and I feel I should apologise for my lack of new posts this month. However its not that I've been resting on my creative laurels - oh no! I've been busy recycling piles of other peoples Chrimbly cards (from last year) and turning them into tags for the school craft fair. Oh and then there was the magnetic peg memo holders and the xmas cards and money envelopes etc... So with all that and Xmas shopping etc - phew! But I do have lots of ideas for next year that I want to try out. I love the new scrapbooking mag that came out last month - Scrap365, (yay I won a 6 month subscription which makes it even better) and have found a good few inspiring projects in there that I'm going to get going with as soon as the madness here calms down. Did anyone else love that Glue Book and the self made Smash Book? Oh I'll get some of those scrap bits of stash used up yet...
Meanwhile I'll leave you with a pic of a notebook made for a xmas pressie (dust off that bind-it-all) using some recycled corrie cardboard, vintage dictionary pages and my favourite glue ever - Golden Gel which dries with a bumpy brushed texture. Love it! Hope Santa brings you all new stash to play with!
Have a fabsy Christmas everyone!
Peace, Love and Creativity!
Jak
xxxx

Baby Book for a friend....

Just finished and just in time! Only a week or so to go. So exciting! Can't wait to meet baby and can't wait to see this little book all filled up with pics and journaling. Come on Sam, tell that little poppet to get a move on...

Altered pegs

Here is a quick project I made for the craft fair that we were at on Saturday. The ladies from the club really liked them and asked if I could show how to make them at our next meeting. They are super easy to make - the only thing that might not be in everyon's stash is the adhesive magnetic strip for making them stick (there's an excuse for some retail therapy if ever there was one)!
Cheers!
Jak
xxx