Baby Name Frame

My best friend has just had her first baby! Hooray!!

For her baby shower which was back in January (well actually he was born a week after still in January so I'm rather late with my post) but I had decided I really like the idea of the survival kits that are knocking about on the internet but didn't like the idea of just giving seemingly useless things such a marbles and matchsticks in a bag! So I decided to make them into a picture frame spelling out his name.

 First things first, I knew I wanted an 8 x 8 shadow box as 6x6 seemed to small and 12x12 seems just a little bit too big, could I find a nice place wooden one anywhere - no, no I couldn't, but I did find this one in Wilko's so i thought what the hey I'll just take it apart make it look pretty and put it back to together ... how hard could it be ...

 ... turns out harder than expected when you find the little spacers and glued in and they need to be come out in order for everything to be visible! But after much yanking and pulling, some rather dangerous knife antics and help from the boyfriend the frame finally came apart hooray!! 

 Previous to all of this I had made my insert. I started by deciding which items I was using and then writing what each item was for and spacing it around in a square (I did all this on the computer) to fit in an 8x8 frame and then gathering my bits and pieces and gluing them down in the shape of LOGAN!

 Back to the frame. I applied a couple of layers of Gesso to my frame in order to get a nice white base and cover up all that black as I knew I wanted some nice neutral colours.

 Once the Gesso was dry I grabbed my Antique Linen Distress Paint and just started swooshing it across the frame on the front and sides, so that it more of a distressed look than meticulously ensuring that it was all covered - this was also the reason for the white Gesso.

 Once the paint had dried I grabbed a stamp and some Archival Ink in Coffee, and just started randomly pressing the stamp onto the frame. not using any acrylic block as it gave more of the shabby look I was aiming for

 Then I finished the frame off by just inking all the edges with some more of the archival ink

 Now it was time to add the spacers back in, so I got he trusty glue gun out and stuck all the little bits of wood back around the inside edges having already placed the glass back in

 Then I glued the insert onto the backing board and place it back inside the frame

 And taa daa my Essentials for Your New Baby frame was complete

And most importantly my Bestie and her lovely Hubby really loved it!

Speak Soon

Nat 

-x-

Word of The Week Journal Page - KEEP

Happy Monday!

Here is my second journal page of the year, with my word of the week being KEEP!

I started by just drawing different sized circles in the corners of the pages, then inked the whole page with Dusty Concord, Peacock Feathers and Faded Jeans Distress Inks and flicked some water over the top to create droplets

Next I got a water brush and using Chipped Sapphire, Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concord wrote the Just Keep Swimming although I really need to work on my lettering skills

And I finished off by adding some bubble shapes using the water brush and distress inks, spritzed a bit more water droplets and done!

Speak Soon

Something New for The New Year!!

Happy New Year All!!

I know it's a week late but hopefully everyone had a good new year!

This year I'm really hoping to get going with blogging again and making it at least a weekly occurrence! So in order to try and ensure I stick to it I'm planning to make a weekly journal page based on a one word inspiration which I shall be selecting at random from a book each month - this months book is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (of course)!

And word one is TIME!!

 I've been having a lot of fun with texture paste lately so added some in my handmade Tale as Old as Time stencil to start off and added some distress stains and home made sprays which were made using distress re-inkers, perfect pearls and some water all in a mini mister. 

 Then I cut out a clock that I had previously created using my Cricut Gypsy, inked it and clear embossed it, then covered with a bit of perfect pearls

 I then created the clock hands using a method which coats the card in several layers of black Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel then stamping into it when it's still hot, then covering in perfect pearls

I then finished it off by cutting out the saying 'TIME goes by", stamping TIME with perfect medium and covering with perfect pearls and then covering all the letters with glossy accents.

Hope you all like it and may try and see if I can get a linky party going on

Speak Soon

End of Year Teachers Presents

Hi All,

My Bestie is a primary school teacher and this year she asked me to make some end of year gifts for her Teacher Assistants as she will be teaching a different class next year. So I thought I would share them with you too! I made a glass for one of them and bracelets for the other two with lady birds on them (as that is the name of their class)!

 I etched the glass by cutting out the name with my cricut from vinyl and then sticking it onto the glass and covering this with armour etch, leaving for about 5 minutes and washing off as per instructions and then finished it off with a little swarovski crystal for that little added bling.

 For the bracelets I started by making a cane with a ladybird in it (i shall upload that in another post) which I followed from The Polymer Clay Artist on You Tube, then made the beads. I had made the red and black spotty ones ages ago and was waiting for the perfect project to use them, then just added some red seed beads and little 3mm black pearls to complete the look.

 Thankfully the TAs were happy with their gifts and I absolutely loved making them.

Fresh Fruit Smoothie

Hi All.

I thought I'd share with you my smoothie that I made using just frozen fruits and freshly juiced fruit juice!

 I started off by slicing up and freezing some slightly on the turn bananas just before they turned to that unusable mush (so this is great for using up those bananas that would otherwise get thrown away) and once frozen adding them to the food processor along with some frozen mango chunks and some frozen blueberries which I bought already frozen but I'm sure you can freeze your own.

 While allowing those frozen bits for thaw ever slightly slightly make your juice! My juicer requires a lot of chopping up so I don't make this all that often as the chopping is a bit of a faff but it all turns out worthwhile in the end.  Anyway for my juice I peeled and chopped up 2 carrots, 2 oranges, 2 apples, a bit of pineapple and a chunk of ginger and put it all through the juicer to make some yummy juice!

 The next step is to whizz up those frozen goods! Whizz whizz whizz until it turns into a sorbet consistency, this stuff is fantastic just as a desert, if you're trying to be healthy but really fancy some ice cream - this is amazing!! So have a little taste just for the fun of it and to see how amazing your creation is!

 Once you've congratulated yourself  by eating as much of the sorbet as you'd wish set the food processor going again and pour in your freshly made juice as it whizzes around through the little pouring spout.

 And there you have it a luscious thick and delicious smoothy that tastes like it should have some ice cream or unhealthy yogurt in it when all it is if fruit and veg! Hoorah!

I'm hoping to invest in a nutribullet soon, which should cut the faff down considerably with the juicing and mainly just the cleaning of the juicer and the food processor which makes this a once in a while thing rather than a everyday nutrient blast! I shall report back with how that goes if and when I get one!

Speak Soon

Hello!!

Hi All

I thought I would start a blog to share all things that I love, which includes but is not limited to Crafting, Disney, Weddings, Baking, Cooking (I think they're two different things) and just general all round good stuff! 

Hooray, now to actually write about something

.......

That will be in another post when I have decided what it is going to be!!

Hehe

Speak Soon

Nat

-x-