Oriental Fans

Hi all. It's been a while since I've blogged. It's been a little hectic here.  The in-laws are staying with us for the month and I've had to run around getting documents ready for our Easter holiday. We'll be leaving this Saturday to Shanghai and Japan for a one week cruise. Yay!! We are seasoned cruisers and try to go on at least one sailing per year. There are still plenty of destinations we haven't been to yet which are on the short list; Alaska and the Med are my two.

In between all of this, I've been doing a couple more little projects for kid's classes, which I will put up later once the classes have been done next month.

Back to this one. I've been so excited to get my Bo Bunny Serenity collection papers, that I had bought a plain wooden fan shaped ornament to decorate before the papers even came in to the shop. When they finally came in, I had to have one of everything they ordered. I've wanted to do a Chinese/Oriental inspired project for a while and these papers, with their Chinese characters and cherry blossoms, are the perfect foil for the fan.

My standing wooden fan ornament featuring Bo Bunny Serenity line.

Prep your wooden board and stand. I sanded the edges to get rid of rough edges and brushed on two coats of gesso, then let it dry.

I then painted the sides with Distress crackle paint; first with Antique Linen to give the bottom colour and then with Tarnished Brass (my favourite Distress crackle colour) and let the whole thing dry and crackle up before mod-podging with the papers and layering the accents on top.

The back, I covered in a beautiful blue paper from the Serenity line.

Using several types of mediums, I either embossed or crackle distressed the lanterns. For the cameo insert, I cut some of the paper to fit inside and added several layers of Glossy Accents. The Chinese embroidery fastening was sprayed with Glimmer Mists to change it from white to a colour that matched the other accents. All chipboard accents were edged with gold paint.

I hand cut a floral design from one of the papers to lay on the left side of the fan. Under that is a subtle image of cherry blossoms and birds that I stenciled on and filled in with gold Perfect Pearls. The blossoms on the top right of this picture were outlined with Stickles in Star Dust. Gold splash specks were made with Adirondack Gold Acrylic Paint Dabber mixed with water and flicked off a brush.

I initially thought to place a couple of photos into the design but decided against it and kept it purely as an ornament. This way, it will not date with the photos and makes a lovely focal piece on my sideboard.

Products Used
Papers and chipboard from Bo Bunny Serenity Collection
Distress Crackle Paints, Dabber paint, Stickles, Perfect Pearls, Glossy Accents and Liquid Pearls all from Ranger
Metal accents, wooden fan and embroidery fastening sourced locally

A Little Birdie Told Me

Here's something a little different. As some of you know, I also teach a kid's scrapbooking class, where we do layouts, mini albums and other paper crafts. It being the last lesson of the current term, I wanted to do something a little different for them, so Carla of HKMC and I thought of doing a little jewelry project.

I wanted to go for a more "Spring" like theme, and had these little birds to inspire me. Everything is glued down with Diamond Glaze by Judikins. It works similarly to Glossy Accents by Ranger, but I find it dries clearer for these kind of projects. You can layer the glaze without losing your detail underneath and you can even glaze your fabric so the whole piece will harden and be waterproof.

With just a few items, you can create a gorgeous piece of jewelry, which makes a great gift for Mother's day.

My finished necklace. I cut an oval of patterned paper to line the bottom and glazed it down. All other elements were layered on top.

A bracelet made to match with the same paper underneath. I added an initial charm to personalize it.

Definitely a cute project and gift idea for kids or adults alike.

Products Used
Patterned paper by Little Yellow Bicycle Elizabeth Park Collection
Adhesive by Diamond Glaze by Judikins
All jewelry hardware and trinkets sourced locally

I'm Lovin' It

I had said previously that I wanted to do hubby's birthday layout with some of the My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart paper line, so here it is. There are two colour palettes to these papers; blue "Be Amazing" and pink "Be Happy", however, all the papers can be used interchangeably and will match perfectly with each other. For this layout, I stuck to the "Be Amazing" collection and I wanted to give it a more geometric feel rather than the free-form layout that I did for the Rejoice layout.

Cutting around the patterns highlighted the different geometric patterns of each paper. Adding a separate accent on the left edge of the paper balances out the page.

I raised each paper layer with pop dots to add more dimension to the page. A We R Memory Makers Crop-A-Dile Big Bite was used to punch out the little holes in the blue paper.

Make little tags of different shapes to contrast. Each element was inked around the edges to give it more definition.

Adding the same elements around the page (brown twine on the the clip and buttons, mini lace stamp) tie the layout together.

Products Used
Papers, buttons, clip, stamp all from My Mind's Eye Follow Your Heart Collection
Distress Ink in Walnut Stain from Tim Holtz by Ranger

Easter Fun

Easter is fast approaching and apart from the religious connotations it brings, it also signifies spring and all things new. I love how all the colours of nature come back to life after a dull and dreary winter and we can pack away the bulky sweaters again.

I must really be missing the sun, for as I write this, there has been nothing but four solid months of overcast and cold weather here. Oh well, if I can't get it for real, I can still put it on a page, right?  I had originally pulled out this kit to use for Miss C's birthday but I'm glad I kept it for this. With gorgeous pastels and cute patterns, it has really brightened up my day.  The pictures are from an Easter picnic and egg hunt we did with friends last year. I remember the weather being nice and warm by this time last year so I hope we will see the same very soon.

Pretty pastels scream spring is here. I layered several pieces of patterend papers from the same line under the photos, giving each piece a different edge.

When placing accents, always go for odd numbers, or the rule of three.

I wound matching coloured twine around the raised chipboard accents to give it that extra element.

Add a string of pearls to your banner to make it pop a bit more.

Here's hoping for the sun to come out soon.

Products Used
Papers and letters from Echo Park 2011 Springtime Collection
Chipboard canvas accents from My Yellow Bicycle Fabric Favorites Elizabeth Park Collection
Twine and pearl beads from my stash
Distress Ink in Spun Sugar from Tim Holtz by Ranger