Little Book of Insects

I decided to have a little play at book-binding this week as I wanted a notebook for sketching and jotting down ideas about moths and other insects.  I was quite pleased with how neat the binding was, as I am usually rather haphazard with where I make my holes, often piercing them too close together despite marking them out.

Whilst decorating the front of the book I forgot I'd used olive green thread for the binding and it doesn't really match the decoration, but I don't think it's too noticeable and perhaps I'm being a bit pernickety!

I am sharing this over at Julia's WOYWW and the 
Mini Album Makers Challenge.


Update: I was so pleased to make the Top 5 this month - thank you to the team from the Mini Album Makers Challenge.

Stamping and Smudging!

I like to have a good stash of cards to hand and so I've just made a batch for the coming months.  I used the same stamps but stamped firstly on one card and then directly on to a second, using Distress Ink but without re-inking the stamp.  I changed it around a bit so they each had some first and some second generation printing on them. I smudged the freshly stamped images with a clean blending tool and added some gold flakes to the edges of the darker one.   

Different stamps but the same technique as above with these next two cards, but I added some pearl drops to highlight some of the foliage. I usually add a sentiment or banner later when I know what I want the card for.

  

I'm linking up with Julia over What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday this week.

Birthday Cards for the Men of the Family

This is a birthday-heavy time of year for my family so here are a couple of cards I had to make recently.  Both needed to incorporate hard cash!

This one was for my nephew who is very keen on fishing - alochol inks were used for the background and I found on YouTube how to fold the money into an origami fish.  I then placed it inside the card with low tack tape so the note wasn't damaged.

 For this next one I had a go at trying to create a rusty finish on a piece of card and then die cut the pocket, tag and stars - money was stuffed into the wallet with the gift tag.  The faux enamel label around it and the little plaque on the tag were both done using a technique by the super-talented Alison Bomber - here's a link to her tutorial on the Paper Artsy blog. 

I'm linking up with Julia this week, over at WOYWW

Fleur de Lys Tag and WOYWW

 I had a lovely, relaxing 'play' session in my studio yesterday and made this rather fussy tag for no reason other than the fun of it.  I flung everything at it - I stamped, crackled and foiled!  I then added some vivid blue glass beads simply because they are my latest passion!   

  

I'm linking up with Julia this week over at Whats On Your Work Desk Wednesday.