Liar, Liar - Pants On Fire!

Well, for a DT who claims not to like working with G45, I can only say "Liar Liar, Pants On Fire!"  We all received our September DT kit with heavy hearts as none of us thought we would enjoy working with G45 and as Jane and Denise were not about to work their magic knew we had to step up to the mark. AND step up to the mark we all did.

Mel made an amazing layout about  Isabelle's love of Harry Potter using the Rare Oddities range.

Ann made a Jane-worthy altered tin.

and a beautiful layout, featuring her gorgeous kitten Ronnie, using It's Raining Cats and Dogs.

 

Katherine made a lovely Recipe Book using Home Sweet Home

and a project life style page using Artisan

and I made a layout using  Precious Memories

and a notelet case and set of notelets using World's Fair.

BUT it didn't stop there - in fact there are 6 pages of inspiration over on the Gallery so I say again Liar Liar Pants on Fire to all of us as I think we now secretly love G45!

Harry Potter with Graphic 45

So this month I, like the rest o the team, have been getting to grips with Graphic 45. Today I wanted to share this layout I made with the Rare Oddities collection which was absolutely perfect for a couple of Harry Potter photos I wanted to scrap.

Isabelle is completely absorbed in this series and I love this photo of her reading one of the books. The busy design o the paper is not something I would normalling reach for but it made it super easy to create this layout full of interesting bits and pieces! I simplecovered a couple o the shelf areas with diferent pieces (a sticker at the top right corner of the photo and a journaling square with bat in the bottom left corner) and then added more stickers, punched shapes and some bling or detail.

Graphic 45 Notelet Case and Notelets.

 

In my opinion it's never too early to start planning your Christmas gifts and with that in mind I have made two sets of notecards in a presentation case to give to my two friends at work.  We agreed that we would not spend very much and just do gifts that were under £5.00 so these came out well within budget.

This notelet case and set of notlets can be made from one piece of cardstock three pieces of paper, some ribbon and six 4 inch square white cards and envelopes.   I used Graphic 45 World's Fair range and the three papers were:-

EnvisionExpo

InspirationStation

BalloonBouquet

1.       Cut out your cardstock pieces as shown in diagram below.

•  Score the 12in x 5 ½  in at 5 ½ ins and 6 ½  ins
• Score the 6in x 2 1/2 in pieces at 1/4 in, 3/4 in, 5 1/4 in and 5 3/4 ins and 1/4 in and 3/4 in from bottom.   Cut the two squares (shown drawn in white) from these pieces.

 

• Glue folds to form a pocket.

 

• Cut cut two 5 inch squares of Balloon Bouquet and two pieces 5 inches by ¾ inch.  Cut two pieces of 1 inch wide ribbon to 10 inches in length and adhere centrally  to the front and back of your card holder.  Onto the top of this stick your 5 inch squares of paper, with the blue side showing and the 5 x ¾ inch ones on the front and back of the spine of your case. 
• Cut two pieces of Envision Expo 5 inches square and stick, with the blue side showing, onto each side of the inside of the case.  Cut two a 3 ½ squares of Envision Expo and stick to the centre of your two 4 inch card squares.   Attach an 18 inch piece of ribbon to the back of each 4 inch card square so that an equal length of ribbon is at the top and bottom.  Adhere the card squares to the centrally to each inside of your case.  

• Cut the Inspiration Station paper as shown below.

 

• Make your cards up like these. Cut phrases from Envision Expo to add to your cards.  I added small strips of paper to each side of the 3 x 4 journal cards to make them 4 in square.

• Cut two pieces from the remaining piece Inspiration station, measuring 4 inches x 1 ¼ inches and adhere to the card pockets then stick the card pockets to each side of your notelet case approx. ½ inch from the bottom.

•  Use the remaining 3 in x 4 in ‘journal card’ from Inspiration Station to decorate the front of your notelet case and add a couple of balloons cut from the remaining Balloon Bouquet paper.  Also add some small balloons to the front of the pockets inside the notelet case. 
  
  
  
  
  I also made one using Graphic 45 Time to Celebrate
  
  
  
  
   - more detailed photos can be found in the September Gallery. 

Sept Virtual Crop - Class 3 By Mel Hand

Welcome to the last class of the day here at the end of another ATDML Virtual Crop.

My kit was jam packed full of paper and before I knew it I had made four layouts with it! This months class includes a layout which you can prepare as a base page to complete at a later date i you don't have suitable photos at the moment. Mine has some black cardstock pieces to illustrate clearly where the photos will go.

Here are two of the layouts, to see the rest and get the free PDF instructions click HERE

I hope you have enjoyed this months Virtual crop, join us again in October for three more classes and a challenge.

Don't forget there will be chat and a place to share your creations all day over on the ATDML # Create Facebook page.

Class 2 - Ann Freeman

September sees our tiny humans return to school and my kit that I used for this challenge used the school days themed Simple Stories Smarty Pants collection

If you don't have the kit worry not you can use your own papers to recreate the pages and the match book here, and if you aren't a mini book/match book fan, well this one is flat enough that it could be added to a page and used as an interactive element.

You can download instructions FREE to this class where I create two layouts and a match book HERE. If you'd like to share your pages with us you can do so in our Facebook gallery or on Instagram using #atdml.

Your third class is at 2pm with Mel. Be sure to come back and check it out. Ta ta for now :)

September Virtual Crop Class 1 - Katherine Sutton

Hello and welcome to the September Virtual Crop, and there are 2 pages that you can make in my classes.  I love the colours of the Kaisercraft papers, really nice and summery.  The pages should be fairly quick to make and they aren't too messy!

I hope you enjoy them and remember to share them on our Facebook page.

You can find my instructions here

Come back at midday for a class with Ann!

September Virtual Crop Challenge

Hello and good morning crafty ones!

Welcome to another Saturday morning virtual crop challenge with your ATDML design team. If you have been following our virtual crop challenges for a while you will know we look for what the day of the crop throws up as an interesting fact and then find a link to inspire your next page. You can use whatever supplies you like for this, there is no kit or instructions, just read the prompt and see where it takes you!

Believe it or not September 19th is National "Talk like a Pirate day"..."Ai, it be true this" There really is such a day!

 and how could I not base today's challenge on this?

So dig out your map patterned paper, or go red black and white colour themed, nautical or any pirate link you can think of!!

Heartly enjoy th' challenge scrappers!

See you back here at 10am for your first class of the day with Katherine.

(Paw)fect papers for your four legged friends

September Design team gallery is filling up with our Graphic 45 creations and as well as the spooky October Time to Flourish papers I also had some Raining Cats and Dogs papers to play with.

With three cats in the house and not a whole heap of layouts about them I was on a mission to use these papers well!

I started with a hexagon chipboard piece I found whilst sorting through my stash to find the twine I knew I wanted to use to make the ball of string. I then used this chipboard piece to cut out a selection of the papers and layer them across a neutral background.

There are plenty of elements as always with Graphic 45 that lend themselves to being cut out and layered up and using these heavily patterned papers in smaller quantities means you can still create quite a modern looking page with plenty of space. 

Using foam pads to layer up some of the elements and adding the twine means there is still a fair amount of dimension on the page whilst maintaining quite a clean look.

I created a second page using these same papers and making the most of the leaves and flowers as well as adding a few of the cat elements.

The Family Frame was cut out on the Silhouette (I really need to make better use of my machine!) and then a couple of patterned paper strips at the top and bottom mean this page will sit nicely alongside the one above in my album.

More Graphic 45 layouts and projects can be found in the September DT Gallery HERE.

September Virtual Crop Photo Requirements

Hello, the September Virtual Crop is nearly here - and here are the photo requirements.  There are still a couple of kits for Class 1 left at the time of writing.

Class 1 - Katherine 

Layout 1 

6 by 4 landscape photo

Layout 2 

6 by 4 landscape photo

Not essential but a 1" circle punch and edge punch (I used Martha Stewarts doily lace edge punch).

Class 2 - Ann

These pages are school themed so dig out your school pictures.

Layout 1 

3 by 4" portrait photo

Layout 2

2 3 by 4" portrait photos

Matchbook style mini book

This can hold 3 or 4 photos no bigger than 3 by 4 landscape.


Class 3 - Mel

Layout 1

4 landscape 5" by 2 3/4" photos.

This page has the title "365 Happy Days" so ideally a photo from each season through the year.

Layout 2

7 2 by 3" photos a mix of portrait and landscape.
It is a "Week in the Life" style layout so you can make it up and add photos later - if you don't have photos yet then use scraps of old card stock to act as place holders.

Layout 3

5 3/4" by 3" landscape photo (could easily be cropped from a 6x4)


Layout 4

6 by 4" portrait photo

A Little Frugal Scrapping

Last month, I purchased this pack of papers and stickers.  It's from Simple Stories - Simple Sets and only cost £9.50.  I love Simple Stories and this certainly didn't disappoint - it contained six double sided papers and two  (6in x 12 in) sticker sheets.

Initially I put it in my 'Month In 5 Photos) album to be used for my August pages and promptly forgot about it.  I found it again just before my crop, last Saturday and used it there to make my August pages.

Realising I still had plenty left I made a couple of pages for a sketch challange run by a FB group I am in

and then still had enough left to make a further page.

There are still loads of stickers and some scraps of paper remaining so I may make a card or two with those.  All I added to the kit were some cardstock, washi tape and fabric flowers I made as part of the challenge.

What a bargain - 5 pages from a £9.50 kit!

Home Sweet Home with Graphic 45

It is all Graphic 45 this month and I made a mini book (using the basis of Gloria Stengels book - and her binding - if you are ever short of G45 inspiration her blog is packed with some beautiful tutorials and projects).  My book has 6 pages and the card part of it is a double layer of cereal boxes and made from their Home Sweet Home range!  I used a mixture of papers and then worked out a variety of simple page constructions

The opening page has a couple of pockets

A journal card on an open out flap, and on the other side a little band to hold a photo or letter or something precious.

Here is a pocket and then a lift up flap for journalling or another photo

Another open out flap and corner pocket.

Some more journalling space and then 2 pockets layered on each other

The final page with layered up journal cards and then more space for photos and journalling

Time to Flourish - Spooky Style!

Ok So I know it is September and not October but if you wanted to get a head start on preparing for the spooky season keep reading!

Mel & Jill sent me Graphic 45 Time to Flourish papers for the September design team gallery. Those of you who know me are well aware I struggle with G45 but I have had a whale of a time playing with them creating no less than 4 layouts and a mini altered altoid tin!

This uses the October Flourish paper and the October Cut apart (click on the names for hyperlinks that take you straight to the store for these).

There are so many great elements that can be cut from the papers, perfect for little projects such as this tin which now sits on my scrapping display shelves. Spooky mist effects were added by tearing up a cotton wool ball (although my kids suggested I not clean for a while and use real cobwebs!!)

I cut apart an old cheap plastic necklace from the 99p store for the little skull and bones that I have used on it. Inside the tin I made two cardboards bridges which stuck to either side of the tin and to which the elements could be stuck both on the back and the front given the impression of more layers than there are. 

And the back of the bird was patterned so I inked it black before using so it would stand out if turned around.

I also make this layout from the papers adding a sheet of black card and a photo from the spooky photo booth we had at the Autumn retreat last year.

More Graphic 45 projects will be shared by the design team as the month progresses so look out for more inspiration coming your way soon.