Back to papercraft

Hi beautiful

It's been nearly 6 months since my last post! Having a break from the world :-).

Life goes in circles. After a couple of years, I find myself returning to my love of making with paper. I've been exploring junk journaling - creating journals with a selection of everyday papers. I particularly love the scrappy aged look and recently played with tea stained papers and card leftovers to make this birthday card for a wonderful spunky lady.

Envelope card tied with a bow

Embossed greeting card withdrawn from front pocket

Back of envelope

New for me was using machine sewing as a feature and including a fabric scrap as an embellishment. (That's the textile influence of the last 2 years!) The tea staining gives the paper a gorgeous crackling sound as well as a warm aged look.

I'm loving being back with paper, glue, distress inks …..

Cara

Just linger for a while

Hi beautiful

Warmer weather is coming, so in this moment, I linger a little.

The beauty of stitching, the texture emerging.

Boro piece in progress

The richly woven piece with its undulating colours.

Waffle weave in 8 ply

A day to linger, dwell quietly in the moments.

May peace be with you.

Cara

So much to discover, so much to learn!

Hi beautiful

It's a lovely wet day here on the Gold Coast, so what better time than to post to the blog? I must say it's been a while since my last post. Busy, busy, busy! So much to discover and learn!

Let's wander through the alphabet and list some of what I've been up to.

A - Alphabet: learnt the NATO Phonetic Alphabet! Finally!

B - Bag: decorated with napkin tissue.

French theme

C - Crazy quilting. Giving it a go. Embellishing is underway.

Destined to be a book cover

D - Dangles (beads) on the spine of a junk journal cover. Has my cat, Millie, curious.

Back of cover

F - feathers birthday cards.

M - machine free motion stitching. A first for me! 

Practise, practise!

N - name tag. A fabric crafty one. 

P - Postcard fabric pages 

Front

Back

W - Weaving a shawl. Underway.

Love the colours!

Hope you're discovering and learning too! 

Love 

Cara

Vintage look fabric brooch

Hi beautiful

Wandering past the magazines at the supermarket the other day, an image of a fabric brooch caught my eye. On closer inspection, it was a little kit popped in with the latest issue (#62) of Mollie Makes. Needless to say, the magazine and its enticing kit came home with me.

A quick little project with the kit providing everything needed - from the five little squares of pretty fabric, thread & needle, felt for backing, brooch pin. I replaced the plastic vintage style button provided with one from my mum's collection. Other than that, it's identical to the one pictured on the kit - well roughly!

Fabric brooch 3"

Back of brooch

Now I guess the world is my oyster! Maybe more little fabric brooches will appear in my makings. It was certainly fun to try something different.

Love 

Cara

Happy Mother's Day

Hi beautiful

Flowers and Mother's Day go together! So why not a paper crafted flower in a box?

Boxed & labelled

The box (3" square) was made using the We R Memory Keeper's Gift Box tool. The paper of the box is from the Graphic 45 Tropical Travelogue collection. Such a pretty hibiscus pattern. The card and small tag are from G45 Secret Garden collection. The message "Happy Mother's Day" was drawn as an outline using the Scan N Cut and then coloured in with gel pen.

Opening the box

The big reveal

Close up

The pretty floral cardstock from Graphic 45 collection, Secret Garden, sets off the arrangement beautifully.

Happy Mother's Day!

Love
Cara

Boxes

Hi beautiful

I happened upon Artist Trading Blocks in my Pinterest wanderings and was amazed by the creations. This got the old brain ticking and led me to exploring the many possibilities of making boxes of various sizes and then decorating.

I found that the different weights of card made a difference to the strength of the box. Below are various boxes, some made from cereal boxes card, others chipboard and manila folders, another using patterned cardstock.

Assorted boxes

I first tried making the boxes from the basics - measuring and cutting. Edie Cournoyer's video was useful How to Make an Artist Trading Block .This yielded some reasonable results. In the end, I bought a We R Memory Keepers box maker - after encouragement from hubby! No doubt he thought my success rate in achieving perfect results every time would greatly improve!

Decorating with distress inks and stamping was fun. These are works in progress.

Distress inked & stamped

I decided to use the box as the basis of a birthday "card" for my 16 year old niece. Below are the sides and top of the 4" box, made and decorated from the Graphic 45 World Fair collection of cardstock and tags.

 

Basic box

One side

Sides and 16 Top

Decorating the sides and top of the box was really enjoyable. The vibrant colours and images of the G45 papers along with the inspirational word tags really made it fun.

My next post will be a Mother's Day Box.

Love

Cara

Birthday pennant

Hi beautiful

My mum celebrates her 95th birthday this weekend. A usual birthday card just didn't seem grand enough. So... Introducing the birthday pennant!

Pennant 17" wide & 30" long

Mum loves bright colours and flowers hence the bold pink and yellow green!

Happy 95

I used the Scan N Cut to cut out the letters, numbers, petals and leaves from card stock. I followed Julie Fei-Fan Balzer's technique for assembling the flowers. (Dimensional flowers)

3D Flowers

The pennant is made from foam packaging about half inch thick - easy to cut. Over this a layer of tinted gesso to give some grip to the surface (and maybe hold it together!).

Yet something more was still needed for the background. Inspiration struck! Tea bags!! All those used tea bags I had begun collecting - their moment of glory had come. And Mum loves her cup of tea. The colour variations of the tea bags and their texture really worked well.  

So much adhesive later, the finished pennant. Mum is confined to her bed, so the pennant will be able to hang on the wall and easily read by her from there!

A fun happy project which I hope will bring a smile and laugh from my dear Mum.

Enjoy your making and creating.

Love

Cara 

A smile is the beginning of peace

Hi beautiful

Easter is upon us. This quote from Mother Teresa, "A smile is the beginning of peace" is apt at this time. What better place to display it but on an iPad cover!

Front of cover

The cover was fun to make with lots of machine stitching! The top layer is a random collage of fabric pieces arranged over a middle layer of wadding and a bottom layer (lining) of two hankies. The result is a thick and firm piece.

Back of cover

Pieces of tea dyed cotton, each stamped with a quote were hand stitched on the front,  reverse of front flap and on the back. The back piece is a pocket.

Front flap open showing Velcro closure

The hankie lining is visible in the photo above and below. The hankies were a similar size and colourful. The border of the blue one worked very well indeed.

Inside cover

So there you have it. A functional item made from leftover pieces of fabric and old hankies.

I love it when something "old" or recycled is used.

Peace to you and yours.

Love Cara

Seeds to sew

Hi beautiful,

Last weekend I enjoyed the Stitches and Craft Show in Brisbane. I particularly wanted to check out the textile art of Ali George. Ali had a goodie starter pack for making a book cover or wrap. Dyed fabric, silk ribbon, buttons, printed paper, threads were included plus the opportunity to sit and chat with Ali and Rebecca, both textile artists. 

Browsing their creations and inspired by their ideas, I headed home to make my first piece of textile art.  After much to and fro in my layout and design, I am pleased with the result - a book / iPad pouch!

Front cover

I first embroidered some of the stamped areas on the fabric. I dyed a stitched piece, "Seeds to Sew" completed a few years ago, with blackcurrant tea. The tea produced a lovely rosy shade, matching beautifully with the soft colours of the fabric. Ric rac, also dyed, bordered the piece. Buttons were added to corner the tag. The large red button from my Mother's collection, was ideal to wind the length of fabric around.

Lining inside pouch

The pretty floral cotton made a lovely lining for the pouch.

Back cover of pouch

So my first textile art piece completed! Thanks to Ali and Rebecca for their inspiration.

Inspiration: the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

Love

Cara

Love how you do you

Hi beautiful

Busy and having fun again with a page of an old desktop calendar and odds and ends from my stash!

This page was a gorgeous rich red, really enticing me to play with it next. I had already painted the Christmas page with red acrylic paint.

Below is the almost finished piece. The layers were added over a few days, giving me "mull over" time as each section was added.

Almost finished!

Here's the order of layers.
1. Adhered a found torn piece of text page stencilled with impasto paste - just the right shade and size. Scraps of gelli painted papers added to edges.
2. "Love" tag - a piece made months ages ago. Embossed words on pastel background. A quote was added. (Later covered over.)
3. Die cut flower added.

At this stage, I could have stopped - it was nice and simple and flat - ideal for rebinding into the upcycled calendar. However, I realised this was my chance to "stretch" myself and take it to the next level!

3. Dried flowers, leaves, seeds were clustered at the bottom.

4. Tag "Love how you do you" was made with cardboard and quote compiled on computer (did a few more while I was at it!), printed and adhered. Piece adhered to Love tag, covering initial quote!

5. Plaster of paris heart and butterflies made and painted with green, blue and gold metallic acrylics.

6. Adhered to thick cardboard with wire used to hang. Accented edges with black distress ink.

Finished hanging

All good fun - using mainly existing items, just waiting to be discovered and used. And this time, I pushed myself to go further!

Enjoy digging into your stash....

Love
Cara

Journey collage

Hi beautiful

This past week, I got into collage. Pure serendipity from start to finish!

Journey collage

Starting  with a page from an old desktop calendar, already layered with paper and painted with acrylics; armed with a couple of containers of random pieces of scrap paper and open to whatever may happen, I ventured forth.

A deer beckoned.
A quote discovered.

 "Je pourrais escalader des montagnes". (I could climb mountains!)

Torn scraps adhered.
I was so enjoying this journey!

Je pourrais escalader des montagnes!

Stamped and painted.

Et voila, fini!

Journey tag

Deer climbing mountains

It's amazing the buzz I got just flowing along on this journey, allowing the papers to guide me.

Looking at this now, reminds me of one of my favourite movies from my youth - The Sound of Music and one of the inspirational songs which has stayed with me through the years.

Climb every mountain
Ford every stream
Follow every rainbow
Till you find your dream.

May you find your dream.

Love
Cara

Truth

Hi beautiful

In my last post, I shared my enjoyment of using a postage stamp as the image in an art piece. The next stamp I've chosen is of an owl, a barking owl no less. I was drawn to its wide open gaze and its seeming eagerness to fly as it leaned forward. The word "adventure" sprung to mind.

Seeking out an appropriate quote, I was delighted to discover that to Native Americans, the owl is "the harbinger of truth, particularly to self and a creature who brings magic on its wings" (taken from What is my spirit animal). Given my theme for the month is truth, this prompted my art piece today.

Barking Owl

I like to think that this owl is with me on my journey to seek out my true self.

Love
Cara

Family File folder album - part 1

Originally published in July 2015. Some minor edits 1/3/16.

Hi!

I have a few craft projects on the go; nothing unusual there! One of these is the family file folder album. I have yet to finish it with photos and journaling as well as the cover. It's a combination of two of my loves - paper craft and family history.

So here's Part 1.

The basic album has been constructed using tidbleger75 PDF tutorial (https://youtu.be/Mpt6Z3fqYPo) and Laura Denison's stacked deck hinge technique (https://youtu.be/5Z_6pe2ZhDI. Both were nice and easy to follow.

I used Kaisercraft double sided papers in the main with some other papers from various vintage collections. Below are the pages. Some pages have fold out flaps. I'll show these in Part 2. 

First page

Some photos added

Last page

I also made a video showing the pages as they are at this stage.

https://youtu.be/zTvnwVqAmCY

Enjoy your creating! 

Love Cara