Time to start those Christmas cards!

Merry Christmas everyone! Okay so it’s a little early for saying this but it’s never too early to start making your Christmas cards. Hi all, I just wanted to show you a couple of quick cards I made with the beautiful new 'Tis Christmas Time paper collection by Denise Ann for Meg’s Garden. 

For my first card I made a center step card, you can find the tutorial for making the step card here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/centerstepcard/

I used the Christmas Flowers paper for my background paper and then cut out one of the 3” x 3½” prints from the Christmas Angels paper which I distressed and matted with a light green cardstock. I then cut out one of the “Noel” sayings from the 4” x 12” strip of the Christmas Angels paper for my sentiment.. On either side of the sentiment I used one of the small “Latte Paper Roses” on either side of the sentiment and then I used one of the deep burgundy “Idyllic” flowers on the right side of the center step part of the card.

For my second card I used the Christmas Greetings paper from Meg’s Garden and another image cut from the Christmas Angels paper which I cut down to fit into the smaller die cut white paper and the Christmas Greetings paper was cut down to fit into the larger white die cut paper. I used one of my stamps for the embossed greeting and a couple of bling flourishes to fit into each corner on the bottom part of the card.

Materials used from Meg’s Garden

Paper - P6362 - Christmas Flowers

            P6361- Christmas Greetings

            P6366 – Christmas Angels

Small Latte Paper Roses

Idyllic deep burgundy flowers

Other Items Used

Pale green cardstock

Deep burgundy cardstock

White cardstock

Distress tool

Vintage Photo distress ink

Almost forgot this one...

Well my brain must have decided to go on vacation and leave me behind as I totally forgot to post this layout of my grand kids from when they were visiting this past summer.I don't know if you've ever been here to Campbell River on Vancouver Island where I live but it's beautiful. The ocean is like 2 mins away, lakes about 20 mins away, Ski hills 45 mins away, so when my grand kids are up visiting we're always out doing something. One of the things they love to do is go to the beach at the ocean because there's something new to see everyday. As you can see from the photo my grandson loves to search for little crabs under the rocks.

I used the Websters "Yacht Club" collection for this layout. Along with a "Life's a Beach" chippie from Dusty Attic, fish net from my stash along with shells & starfish from our beaches here in Campbell River. The three seagulls I cut with my Cricut machine using an SVG file I made.

Thanks for stopping by and I'd love to hear your comments!

Vintage Trinket Box

Hi everyone, today I'd like to share a really cute vintage trinket box that I made using a small box I got at a local dollar store. Before doing any altering on the box I painted the inside and outside of the box with a layer of Gesso. I then gave the outside and lid of the box a pink crackle paint effect; it’s a little hard to see the crackle effect in these photos. 

I love fussy cutting the flowers from the “Summer Bouquet” papers which I did for this altered trinket box and glued them down to the outside of the box. I then took some of the off white lace and used some Tea Dye distress ink to give the lace an older vintage look to it and then glued it down on the side of the top of the box. I used two of the Burgundy roses and two of the Rose Pink roses and three of the Dusty Attic medium paper leaves glued them to the top of the box. I had a couple of the wire stems which I twisted up and then popped them into the flower cluster.

Materials Used from Meg’s Garden

Paper -  P6336 A Summer Bouquet

Burgundy/Cream open paper roses         

Rose pink open paper roses

Rose leaves medium

L2895 – 2cm off white lace

Other Items Used

Small round box from a local Dollar store

Tea Dye Distress ink

DT layout for Meg's Garden

Hi everyone, here's a quick layout I did using the “Ode to a Summer's Day Collection” designed by Denise Ann for Meg’s Garden. I used the “Buds of May” paper for my background which I distressed using my distress tool and distress ink in Vintage Photo. I also tore the top of the paper down a bit and added a small piece of light green cardstock behind the tear and placed one of my small handmade rosebuds between the tear. To start my layers off I caught off one of the lace corners of the Bond 25 square white doilies. I then cut a strip 8¾” x 1½” from the “Summers Day” paper. The other long strip is actually two small strips of paper cut from the “Summer Bouquet” paper and placed behind the 6¾” x 3” piece of the bottom left corner of the “Summer Beauty” paper to give the illusion of being one long strip. I distressed all of the layers (except the doily) using my distress tool and distress ink.

Here's a close up of the flowers.

I love fussy cutting the flowers from the “Summer Bouquet” papers which I did for this layout and popped them up with pop dots. I then added the white Azalea flower and the two pink roses between the fussy cut flowers. I used one of the butterflies from the “Elements” butterfly sheet and glued it to the layout only down the middle so I could bend the wings up. I cut the “Love” title using my Cricut machine and I was all done!

Materials Used from Meg’s Garden
Paper - P6333 A Summers Day
            P6336 A Summers Bouquet
            P6334 Summer Beauty
            P6335 Buds of May 
Bond 25 Square White Doily
Azaleas
Rose pink open paper roses
Butterflies TR015
 Other Items Used 
Light & dark green cardsrock
Small handmade green rosebud
Vintage Photo distress ink
Distress tool

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend! 

September Bits & Pices Giveaway

C'est Magnifique s having a giveaway, check it out here:
http://cestmagnifiquekits.blogspot.ca/2013/09/september-bits-pieces-give-away.html?spref=fb

 

Websters Papers

Don't you love Websters papers? I don't think they've come out with any collection that I don't like. I've bought a number of Websters kits and even though I've made numerous layouts and cards with the kits I still have lots of each collection left in my stash. A few months ago I decided I'm going to try and stop buying more papers until I use up more of what I have got in my stash. So I decided to start with my Webster's collections and for this layout below I used the Websters Yacht Club collection. 

The photo is of my daughter and her boyfriend at the inner harbor in Victoria, BC where they live while they're going to University. The background die cut paper was so pretty I really didn't want to cover it up to much. I popped up the photo, lighthouse and a few of the other embellishments with pop dots to give them that 3D look. The starfish and shells were cut with my Big Shot and Spellbinders die. It's a very simple layout but I really like how it turned out. I hope you like it and don't forget that I love to hear your comments! Have a great weekend!

Meg's Vintage Challenge

Hello Bloggers

Just a reminder about  Meg's Garden

"Vintage Challenge" this  month and we'd love you all to play along with us! It's so easy!!

All you have to do is create a layout, project or card using any Meg's Garden images or papers in a "Vintage" style.

Challenge Rules

1. Join Meg's Garden Blog
  
2. Join and "Like" Meg's Garden Facebook page

3. Please upload your Vintage entry to any online gallery
 of your choice, or in a blog post.Once done link your project entry into the comments section at Meg's Garden blog
 below the post for this challenge. It's that Easy!!

Entries close at midnight September 30th, 2013
(AEST Australia Time)

Entries are open to everyone.

The Design Team will then vote and there will be 3 prizes!

1st Prize
A $50.00 coupon (shipping free) to spend at www.megsgarden.com

2nd Prize
A $30.00 coupon (shipping free) to spend at www.megsgarden.com

3rd Prize
A $15.00 coupon (shipping free) to spend at www.megsgarden.com   

We can't wait to see what you come up with...
Have fun!!

Sketch Challenge

Well I don't know where the rest of August went to so fast. All the poor kids will be whining that it went by to fast too since they all go back to school tomorrow. But there will probably be a lot of Moms doing a happy dance, lol!

Enough about that. Here is my latest creation which I did for the Swirlydoos Sketch Challenge for August. These are my grandchildren taken when they were up visiting back in July. This actually shows why you shouldn't throw away all of your smaller scraps of paper. Other than the background piece of paper all of the other bits are scraps, even the pretty teal trim down the right side of the paper, the trim wasn't long enough to go down the whole side of the photo but that was okay because the flowers cover it up and then no one is the wiser, lol!

Here's the sketch, and you can find the challenge here http://www.swirlydoos.com/sd_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?215838.0

 Have a great day everyone!
 

Julie Nutting Doll Stamps

So I bought six of the Julie Nutting doll stamps and I finally got the chance to play with them, well not all of them but one of them. They're all so cute and it's like playing cut out dolls again like I did as a kid. My sisters and I had Rock Hudson and Rosemary Clooney  cut out dolls, we'd play with them for hours! 

Anyway I cut out my doll that I stamped and then cut out her dress and hair band and got them all glued on. I wanted to make a tag with the doll but all of a sudden my mojo decided to take a vacation....I think I may have left it at the campsite my friend and I stayed at last weekend, lol. My mojo still isn't totally back but at least I can say I did finish the tag last night...finally! So here's the finished project, it's not perfect but I do like it, lol. Thanks for stopping by and having a peek. I hope you ave a great weekend!

 

Vintage Altered Spool

Altered Spool

I’ve been seeing a lot of these altered spools on the internet and they all looked so pretty and I thought I must try making one of these spools. I made my spool using a toilet paper roll and 4 circles of chipboard (or in this case cereal box chipboard) cut out with my Cricut machine at 4” in size. For the top and bottom of the spool I glued 2 pieces of the chipboard together for each end. I used the Blue Paradise papers for my spool, so before gluing the spool together I cut 4 circles at 4” on my Cricut again and glued one of these circles to both the top of each circle and the under side of the circle. I then cut a piece of the Blue Paradise paper to wrap around the toilet paper roll. Once all of the pieces were covered with the paper I was then able to glue the spool together.

The glass knob on the top of the spool I picked up at a local recycling store for $1.00, I love finding bargains like that at these types of stores! Once I got that glued onto the top of the spool I took some white lace and glued that all around the top circle of the spool. I then took a string of pearls and wrapped them around the bottom of the center piece a couple of times; using some hot glue in spots to hold them in place, then loosely draped the pearl string up the center and brought it onto the top of the spool using some hot glue to glue it down on the top. In my stash I found this small dangly bracelet that I had picked up at the dollar store one day and decided it would look pretty dangling off the top of the spool.

For my flowers I took one of the French White Open Paper roses and sprayed it with some purple glimmer mist. I had also taken a small piece of the same lace and used it to make a lace flower which I dipped into the glimmer mist that was on my craft mat from spraying the white rose, never waste anything I always say lol. I glued the purple rose, one of the pretty white meadow flowers and a small purple rose bud, which I made, onto the top along with this cute little bird I found in my stash. I then glued my lace flower and another flower from my stash onto the bottom and I was done and quite pleased at how it turned out. I hope this inspires you for Meg's Vintage challenge! TFL!

Products from Meg’s Garden

Blue Paradise paper P6215

White Lace L2895

French White Open Paper Rose

White Meadows flower

Other Products

White pearl string

$ Store bracelet

Prima flower

Glass drawer knob

Small craft bird

Vintage Challenge - Prizes to be Won!!

Hello Bloggers

Meg's Garden is having a

"Vintage Challenge" this  month and we'd love you all to play along with us! It's so easy!!

All you have to do is create a layout, project or card using any Meg's Garden images or papers in a "Vintage" style.

Challenge Rules

1. Join Meg's Garden Blog
  
2. Join and "Like" Meg's Garden Facebook page

3. Please upload your Vintage entry to any online gallery
 of your choice, or in a blog post.Once done link your project entry into the comments section at Meg's Garden blog
 below the post for this challenge. It's that Easy!!

Entries close at midnight September 30th, 2013
(AEST Australia Time)

Entries are open to everyone.

The Design Team will then vote and there will be 3 prizes!

1st Prize
A $50.00 coupon (shipping free) to spend at www.megsgarden.com

2nd Prize
A $30.00 coupon (shipping free) to spend at www.megsgarden.com

3rd Prize
A $15.00 coupon (shipping free) to spend at www.megsgarden.com   

We can't wait to see what you come up with...
Have fun!!

Tim Holtz Clock

Wow, where as the time gone, it's already the 24th of July? Well I've been busy with my grand kids since the 12th of July. They're up early this year to visit as their Mom is expecting a new baby boy in August so they wanted to make sure they are home for the birth. We have been doing lots of crafting as they wanted to make some goodies for the baby. 

Well I've been seeing all of these gorgeous Tim Holtz altered clocks so I decided to do one myself. I first took the back off of the clock and cut a circle to put on to the inside part using the Websters Secret Garden "Coming Up Roses" paper. I then took some gesso and covered the whole clock (except the inside) with it and let that dry.  After the gesso dried I took some molding paste and mixed a couple of drops of Rangers alcohol ink "Stream" to it to give me a light turquoise blue color which I then added to the clock in a sort of random gloppy (Is that a word, lol) style. While it was style wet I tore small pieces of the "Coming up Ross" paper and stuck them down in different areas of the clock and then used a brush to add bits of the molding paste to the edges of the paper to lend it in with the molding paste.

While all that was drying I took the back piece of the clock and added a couple of Tim Holtz game spinners to the center of the clock to act as clock hands. I also added a black rub on that spelt "Love" at the top of the back in between the two clock hands. It's a bit hard to see in the photo but looks good IRL. When the molding paste on the clock was dried I took a Prima vine and added that to the front of the inside of the clock in a circle shape. I took a long thin strip of cheesecloth and placed it in the bottom of the inside of the clock and tucked a couple of small blue and peach colored flowers in front of that against the glass. 

For my photo, my Mum & Dad from 1967 back in Windsor, Ontario at my Nana's, I used a small Prima clock to frame the photo. To the back of the clock I added a pair of Tim Holtz wings which I covered in gesso and rock candy crackle paint. I then glued that to the side of the clock. I die cut some leaves and tucked them in between my flower cluster on the side of the clock. To finish the clock off I made the banner which says "Back in Time - A Love Story" a tribute to my parents, I've never known anyone more in love than these two! Well thanks for stopping by and I hope you like my clock. 

New Mini Album

I was watching one of Steff Miller's Prima Video's on Prima's UStream channel using the Engraver Collection and some black paper bags for a cute mini album. I have been hoarding this Engraver collection and so I decided to try making this mini album, but since I didn't have any black paper bags I decided to make it using black cardstock for the background. You can see Steff's mini album on Prima's blog here: Prima

The outside size of my mini when closed up is 7" x 4". I made the black flower using Tim Holtz flower die and a clear gem for the center, I glued it down with one end of my string under it and then used a button from my stash on the side so I could wrap the string around the button to close the album. So here is the front pages of my mini album.

Opening up to first page, the section with writing on the left is about 7 ¾" wide and flips over to the left to reveal the third pages. 

In the middle the piece that says "Fifty Dollars" "Printed by James Davis", which is approximately 4" wide flips open to the right. 

Take the 4" piece and fold it back then you can flip over to the left that middle section to reveal the last pages of the album, the center section has a small pocket and a tag which is blank on one side that can be used for journaling or another photo.

I didn't want to add embellishments to the inside of the album, I wanted the papers to be the embellishments. TFL and I'd love to hear your comments!

New Design Team Members

Please join me in welcoming the new members to the Design Team for Meg's Garden!

Amy Prior               www.amyprior.com
Annette Gearside    http://annette-momentintime.blogspot.com
Geraldine Pasinati   A Fabricated Journey.blogspot.com.au
Helen Wallace        http://texturesandtales.blogspot.com.au
Jen Waugh             http://allformyprincess.blogspot.com.au
Linda Thompson     http://6diamonds1sapphire.blogspot.com.au
Sandra Scott          http://kiandra-kreations.blogspot.com.au

At this time we say farewell to Sandrine & Shell - we wish them the best & say thank them so much for their fabulous projects over their DT term. I'm also happy to let you all know that I have been asked to stay on Meg's Garden Design Team for another 6 month term! Have a great week everyone!

New Elemets Papers from Meg's Garden

Hi everyone, today I'd like to share a layout of some pictures of my daughter and niece when they were on their trip through London and Europe last summer. As soon as I saw the new Elements papers and tags from Meg’s Garden I knew they would be perfect for the pictures of them in Paris. I printed the pictures out in sepia colors to go along with the paper colors better.

I used some background paper from my stash and then cut out the “Paris” tag and a blank tag from the “Vintage Ornate Tags” sheet and I then printed the date and names out onto the blank tag. I double matted the photos with a light and dark brown cardstock. I cut a piece approximately 4x6 from the “Vintage French Writing” paper which I inked over with some Vintage photo distress ink. I also cut out a strip from the “French Cinema” paper and one of the clocks from the “Old World Time” sheet. I distressed all my papers and tags etc with my distress tool and with distress ink and layered them as shown.

I wanted to use this beautiful organza lace flower and leaves from Meg’s Garden on the layout and also a few small cream colored Prima flowers from my stash along with some small die cut leaves as well as a tiny handmade rosebud that I put between the torn paper. To finish the layout off I printed off a graphic of the Eiffel tower and used some pop dots on it for a 3D look. TFL!

Meg’s Garden Products Used

Papers – 1036 Vintage Ornate Tags

               1034 Vintage French Writing

               1038 The French Cinema

                2063 Old World Time

Organza Lace Flower, lavender, cream & green

Other products Used

Small Prima cream flowers

Vintage photo distress ink

Handmade rosebud

Eiffel Tower graphic

Die cut leaves

Light & dark brown cardstock

Quick Fathers Day Card

Just a quick card I did for my husband for Father’s Day which could basically be used for any occasion by just changing the sentiment on the banner. The bottom two layers are papers from my stash, one which just happened to have gears on it so it went perfect with the clock from the “Old World Time” sheet. I cut a piece of paper from the “Vintage Map” sheet which I thought was appropriate since my husband is a truck driver and is always on the road doing deliveries. I added some gears from my stash and a bit of burlap I had and you have a great masculine card! TFL!

Meg’s Garden Products Used

1035 Vintage Map paper

1037 Old World Time

Other products Used

Miscellaneous background papers

Metal gears

Burlap

Vintage photo distress ink 

Quick Birthday card

Hi all, just a quick card that I made for my sister for her birthday. I used the “Blue Paradise” paper from Meg’s Garden for this card. For my card base I used a light mauve piece of cardstock cut to 10” x 7”, so when folded in half would give you a 5” x 7” card. I then cut a darker purple piece of cardstock cut to 4¾” to 6¾” for my second layer. My third layer was cut (4½ x 6½) from the center of the blue paradise papers which has a faint print of a man and woman on it. I didn’t do any distressing of my papers as I usually do as I wanted it to have cleaner lines to it.

I then cut out the sentiment and the gate using my Cricut machine and placed and glued them down where I wanted them on the card. I don’t know about you but I love fussing cutting the papers from Meg’s Garden, which is what I did with the flowers from the same Blue Paradise papers. It’s rather hard to see in this photo for some reason but I have popped up the flowers with foam pop dots for a 3D look. I also printed and cut out the butterfly graphic and covered it with glossy accents. Once it was dry I glued it down onto the card but just in the center so I could bend the wings up. That’s it, so simple but looks so pretty with these beautiful papers from Meg’s Garden! TFL!'

 

Design Team Call

To all "Australian" paper craft artists, Meg's Garden is having a Design Team Call! Meg is looking for a few awesome Australian paper craft artists who can showcase the Meg's Garden products!!

If you LOVE papers and lots of embellishments and use them to create layouts, cards and off the page projects, then show us what you love to do!! Meg is looking for talented artists who inspire others to create.

What is expected of a Meg's Garden/Designs Galore Design Team Member?

The ability to showcase Meg's Garden products!
The ability to take good photos or scans of projects!

The Details:
Design Team is for 6 months from 1st July 2013 - 31 December 2013
Create a minimum of 1 layout/project per month posting on both your blog and Meg's Garden blog - dates will be given when team is picked.
Promote Meg's Garden/Designs Galore by posting the above layouts/projects on other online galleries and blogs with working links to the blog.

For further details please email info@megsgarden.com

The Secret Garden

I was surfing around the internet the other week and I came across this really cute little garden that someone had made using a hollowed out book and they called it "The Secret Garden". I remembered how I liked reading that book. Of course being a scrapbooker the first thing I thought was "I could make that with scrapbooking goodies". So that's exactly what I did and here is my "Secret Garden"!

The chair I got off of eBay, the door knocker I got from Home Hardware, the door I made from Popsicle sticks, the small blue & white rosebuds I made myself, fencing, moss, and rocks are from the $Store, papers from Graphic45 and K&Co, key, larger flowers and greenery is from my stash. If you'd like to check out the real one I used as inspiration you can check it out

here: CLICK HERE

Happy Friday!

With all of the traveling and stuff this month I forgot a card I did manage to sneak in between things. This was a lift of one of my talented friends Paulien Van Den Bosch's beautiful cards, she is so talented and is such an inspiration to me with all of her beautiful cards, layouts and OTP projects! You can see Paulien's card that I lifted here, Paulien's card. Here is my lift of Paulien's card.

Thanks so much for stopping by and have a great weekend!