THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY - Guest Designer Jodie King

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Every now and then you'll come across someone who makes your day with their thoughtfulness. While we were setting our DS up in his unit recently, we came across a lounge suite on Gumtree that was free. The owners wouldn't accept any payment for it, they just wanted to help someone out that needed some furniture. And you know what? It's a really great lounge suite!

I knew straight away that I would send these lovely people a card and some Instant Scratch-its as a small measure of our thanks.

I've been playing with the gorgeous January Cupcake Kit again, and I've pulled more of the bright and happy colours from the My Mind's Eye Jubilee Tangerine collection for this card.

The background came together with some basic paper piecing. I cut multiple 4 x 4cm squares in two different patterned papers and then cut each square in half on the diagonal. I arranged them so that each triangle became part of a larger diagonal line. I then stitched each straight and diagonal line on my sewing machine to give a quilted look.



I've used the Hello 2015 design by Polka Dot Creative from the Digital Store, love Jodie's scripting! I've cut the heart in white cardstock on my Cameo, then coloured it using the Mango Gelato from the kit. I've adhered it to the card base and then stitched around it a couple of times in orange thread. Because there are some fine areas on the heart, it stitches more easily when it's adhered to a solid base.

To pretty up my little parcel I used patterned papers from the kit to add a liner to the envelope, and a gift card holder to house the Instant Scratch-Its.

You'll find a bunch of envelope liner tutorials on Pinterest, and they are really quite simple to do but add that extra personal touch. I used a corner rounder at the top to get a clean, straight curve without any stray scissor cuts.

You'll also find plenty of gift card holder templates on Pinterest. I found one that I liked and resized it so that it fit my Instant Scratch-Its perfectly.

A couple of embellishments and a sentiment using the Webster's Pages woodgrain Little Letter Stickers from the kit and it looks as cute as a button!

Now I just need to write a message of thanks in my card, pop in a photo I snapped of the three boys on their new lounge suite, and send this little parcel off in the post!

Thanks for dropping by today,

Jodie

TUTORIAL TUESDAY - Guest Post, Jodie King

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Hi friends, it's Jodie here today and I'm so excited to bring you my first post as Guest Designer for APOCD's January Releases! I've used the Cupcake Kit and a January release Cut File & Brushes from the Digital Store.

Our DS is about to start Uni, and this weekend he moved out of home so that he can study in Brisbane. I wanted to create a layout to celebrate this incredibly exciting time for him, a time when the whole world just seems to open up and anything is possible.

The January Cupcake Kit has two gorgeous Double Scoop Gelatos, and I've used the Mango Gelato in three ways to create my background. Here's a quick step by step on how I've created it.

Start with a piece of white cardstock and prime it with Gesso. Priming allows the Gelatos to blend more easily over the surface and gives a smoother finish, and it also prevents the cardstock from curling and distorting quite as much.

Allow the Gesso to air dry. When dry apply the Gelato across the page where you want the most vibrant colour to be. As you can see you don't need to be super neat with this step at all.

Take a baby wipe and rub over the Gelato to blend the colour, this creates a watercolour effect. When you have blended where you'd like the most vibrant colour, go over the edges with a clean section of baby wipe for a lighter shade, blending back to the white cardstock.

To use your Gelato to create a droplet or splatter effect, put a very small amount of water into a glass or small container. Rub the Gelato in circles on the bottom of the container to release the colour into the water. This may take a few minutes, but the more you rub the more concentrated the colour becomes.

When you have your desired colour, use a small paintbrush to apply splatters to areas of your background.

The final element to our Gelato background is to use a background stamp for subtle visual texture.

For this technique you will need a background stamp, a Gelato and a spray bottle of water (I've used a background stamp from my stash).

Apply the Gelato directly to the stamp in random sections (to create an imperfect edge). It's okay to get a fair bit of colour onto the stamp as it will be a darker layer over the already-coloured background. Spritz the stamp with water and let it sit for a minute while the Gelato activates, then stamp it on the already coloured section of the background. Repeat to create a random pattern.

And here's the background with our three Gelato techniques.

I've pulled a lot of the brighter papers and embellishments from the kit to match the vibrant Mango Gelato background. These pennant die cuts from the My Mind’s Eye Jubilee mixed bag come together as a quick and easy banner.

I've cut the word "Celebrate" in black cardstock from the Clink Clink Cut Files and Brushes. It doubles as my title and also as part of my journalling. I was curious if the scripty font would cut cleanly on my Cameo and I'm super happy with how it turned out - a beautiful clean cut.

There are lots of woodgrain elements in this kit, some of my faves being the Studio Calico Heyday frame stickers and the Jillibean Soup woodgrain frames.

To finish the layout I've added some black ink splatters using Mr Huey's (from my stash) and a few of the metallic sequins from the kit.

Thanks for dropping by today!

Jodie

Messy Monday - Texture Paste with Aimee

Hi! Welcome to Messy Monday with me - Aimee Dow. I know, right? I was the absolute last person you expected to see here today. When we first started discussing assigning themes to days of the week, I said "Fantastic Idea, uhh but Messy Monday's are all yours.". This past month though, I've been so transfixed by the stencil in the cupcake kit that I thought I would try something new.

I went to stay with my Mum, who is really awesome with Mixed Media. I asked her to give me a quick lesson in gesso/texture paste and what I discovered was really very interesting. I don't hate it. And by that I mean that with enough paper towel and baby wipes to stay clean, it's actually quite fun. This is a huge thing for me. Would you like to see what I came up with?

I used the polka dot stencil on the top with some Prima texture paste. Should I ever attempt it again, I would certainly be looking for a paste that is a true white (suggestions welcome).

I finished the layout off with a few stitched elements. All in all, the only things not in this kit were a few wood sequins I happened to have lying around.

Thank for stopping by,

Aimee

DESIGNER INSPIRATION - Natalie May; Something different..an 8.5x11" page

This week I have created an A4 page instead of my usual 12x12.

Simple layering and shapes make the photo of Jessica totally pop off the page and the papers in the main kit were a great color match.

I used white cardstock for my base and then started at the top with the lightest papers working down to the darker contrasting papers at the bottom. My photo is matted with black which not only helps with balance but also makes jessica pop out of the photo more.

A couple of simple strips of vellum tucked in and the gorgeous overlay added creates a little more texture to the page. 

I cut some circles from my papers, and added a cork circle under the cameo cut title.

The page was finished off with the addition of a flair and a little watercolor on the title and some super cute phrase stickers.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week

Natalie

Designer Inspo ... Natalie May

 Happy Sunday peeps!

So I have created another page using the August Cupcake Kit!

Gee I have got a lot of totally different pages out of this kit!

So with this page I wanted to use the MME Die Cuts as the main embellishments!

Added a little Lindys Stamp Gang Mist using the water brush technique I used here.

And I'm done!

I love this page .. a new fave for me!

Have a great day

Natalie

Designer Inspiration - Gina Rodgers - Love This..

Happy Friday all,  I've having a ball with the latest Main Cake kit and have created another layout featuring to gorgeous pastel colours in this kit along with some gold, mustard and brown.. This page came together quickly starting with a soft splash of pink and mint on the background, followed by a bit of layering using die cuts, papers, stickers and washi tape..

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend ahead!
Gina x

Designer Inspiration - Lisa Pate. August Kit is here!

And it's so delicious.  Not that I eat paper or anything.

I cracked open my August Kit today, and sprinkled all the lovely inclusions all over my desk. SO much to work with, so many cute little "bits"

I really love the trend of layering up one edge of the page and creating a layout in this space. Time to give it a go.  It was so easy just to stick random bits along the edge then stitch and staple it all down.  No double sided tape needed.

 

Have you opened your kit yet????

Lisa