Friday 18 November 2011

It's A Frame Up

A wall is never just a wall - it's a blank canvas for a veritable cornocopia of artistic creations. For me, it has to include something with photos. It's the little personal touches that makes a house a home.
So when an old picture in my hallway started looking tired and in desperate need of replacement, out came my creativity to create a whole new look for that patch of wall.
And this is what I came up with....

Now for the details. The three frames are from Kaisercraft Beyond the Page either 12 Photo Frame or 9 Photo Frame. The train is made up of 2 Beyond the Page Filmstrips and the train engine that I purchased off craftshapes.co.uk. I got the wheels for the "carriages" from them aswell.

I have a tendency to always use the latest photos on my projects so on this frame I decided to use early pictures of Eli. I painted the frame using orange Kaisercolour as the base - they are lush to use - the colours are so vibrant. When that dried I painted a thin layer of Mustard Seed Crackle Paint. As it's very thin the cracks are thin as well so they don't show up well on the photo, but you can still see the orange colour coming through. I sealed the paint with Mod Posge and once that was dry sprayed it with a smattering of glitter spray to give it some sparkle. The paper I used is of Kaisercraft Party Animal as are some of the embellishments.
The "Boys will be Boyz" title is a Dusty Attic chipboard and I UTEE'd it with several different colours of UTEE. I then added a bit of sparkle with different coloured stickles.
The "Uniquely You" sticker is from one of the My Minds Eye Lost & Found 2 collections (can't remember which).

These photos are of Eli's first haircut. It's a very big deal in Jewish tradition. A boy's first haircut is usually on his third birthday when they are considered "grown up" enough to have some level of understanding. However, because of Eli's developmental delays he was not considered ready to have his haircut until last year at age 6 and a half. We turned it into a HUGE celebration because it was a major milestone for us. These photos were taken on the day, some at home and some at school where they also made a very big celebration.
I painted the frame with brown Kaisercolour and then inked it a little with a gold ink pad. I sealed the paint with Mod Podge. The paper used is from Kaisercraft Chanteuse collection. The clock embellishment is Tim Holtz and the small frame embellishment is also Tim Holtz with a memory capusle (or whatever he calls them) and inside I put a lock of Eli's hair. The title is a Kaisercraft Wordlet, painted gold and then covered with a dimensional glue.

These photos were all taken during the Summer holidays and they depict Eli being Eli. The frame is painted again with Kaisercolour paint. Once this was dry I used Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous dotted stamp and randomly stamped over it with Stazon dark blue ink. I highlighted a few areas with dark blue stickles for a bit of shimmer and once again sealed it all with Mod Podge. The title is a Kaisercraft Wordlet. This actually came all connected together but I separated the three words and embossed them with different coloured UTEE. The paper is from the Kaisercraft Little Toot collection. I bought the shell whilst on holiday. The flower at the bottom left hand corner is Prima as is the little heart and flower on the top right. The apple I found in a random shop that had a basket of random bits and pieces and they had these tiny fruits for 20p each so I bought all they had - which was only 8 pieces.

The train is my Purim Train (although I didn't actually put the title on there because it's sort of self explanatory - for me anyway). Purim is a Jewish holiday where the kids dress up so I put a put a picture of each of the 7 years that Eli's dressed up (flower, bellboy, schoolgirl, elf, duck, Uncle Sam, Scottish boy). I painted the two filmstrip frames using both Kaisercolour paint and Paint Dabbers. It was tricky painting in that arrow pattern but I had a ball doing it - yes I am a big kid!!! I then lined it underneath with a stripy paper (random one from my stash). I painted the wheels black, put a brad in the middle and stuck it one to my "carriages".
The engine is covered with a glittery Best Creations paper. The wheels are a fancy black velvety paper with holographic dots and the blue is a shimmery transparency - I bought both of these from JJD cards when I was at the Stamp and Scrapbooking Show at Alexandra Palance. The funnel and the buffer is self adhesive red felt contact paper and the brads on the wheels are really old - I've had them for ages. I connected the engine and the carriages with Tim Holtz Ideaology link chain.

I loved using the Kaisercraft goodies, but I had a big problem with it that it doesn't come with a string or anything on the back to hang it up. And I only thought of this once I had finished all the decoration so I couldn't stick anything into it because I didn't want to spoil it. After some very helpful advice on UK Scrappers I bought Command Strips for Picture Hanging from 3M Select. They are easy to use with no holes in the walls - no muss no fuss.

Phew - this turned out to be a really long post, almost as long as it took me to actually make the frames :D

Thanks for looking

Tuesday 15 November 2011

The Land of the Free

I have a little bit of an obsession with the United States. I have a fantasy to go on an around the US trip visiting all the famous and the not-so famous landmarks. Unfortunately though, my bank manager is not too keen on the idea and I can't imagine my little fella (not to mention my big fella) being too enamoured with the idea either.
With my dream trip being exactly that ... a dream I decided to have make US landmarks the theme for my latest CJ. This is the favourite CJ I have been in so far - not only because of the beautiful end result but because of all the fantastic members in the group. I can't wait to start the next CJ with them at the end of the month.
Well, here are the beautiful pages created by my fellow teammates to take me on a vicarious tour through the United States.
First the cover, the welcome page and the sign in page.

"Niagara Falls" created by yours truly. Not technically in the United States - it straddles the US/Canadian border, but this is definitely in my top ten places to visit across the pond.
"Grand Canyon" created by our lovely, bubbly and ever entertaining hostess "kittycrafts" Karen. The Grand Canyon is definitely on my must-see places to visit before I die.
"Statue of Liberty" created by Suzy. I've been to visit Lady Liberty about 12 years ago when I went to New York. Spent a gorgeous day on Ellis Island and climbed all the steps to be rewarded with a magnificent view of New York from the top of the statue.
"Mount Rushmore" created by Lynn (Topsy). Every time I think of Mount Rushmore I am reminded of a hilarious scene in Friends where Joey is watching Wheel of Fortune and shouts out the answer as "Count Rushmore". Chandler then says that it's Mount Rushmore, to which Joey replies "yeah, then who painted all the faces on the mountain?" Makes me laugh every time. And I would definitely love to have my picture taken with the stone presidents.
"Hollywood" by Fiona. No trip to the US would be complete without a trip to the famous sign, the Boulevard and the walk of fame. One of the letters fell off and I intend replacing it when I find the right shade of white card.
"The White House" by Lynn (crafty72). This gorgeous page represents the residence of the leader of the free world. Political opinions aside, I would lurve to visit The White House. The little booklet on the RHS of the layout has various pictures of different rooms inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC.
"Route 66" by Lou. The "Main Street of America" or "The Mother Road" is 2448 miles long and crosses 8 states and 3 time zones. A dream trip to the USA could consist of just travelling along this road and stopping off at various different destinations along the way. I would never have thought of classifying this page as a US "landmark", but I love this page - so original and beautifully made.
"Golden Gate Bridge" by Leanie. San Francisco is on my bucket list of places to visit. This suspension bridge has been declared one of the modern wonders of the world and I for one would love to visit it. The booklet on the LHS of the LO holds more pictures.
"Grand Central Terminal New York". Who would have thought that a train station could be so interesting. Thanks to the lovely Helen I now know that Grand Central Station is the largest train station in the world thereby earning itself a position on my "places to visit" in USA.

Thank you to all my amazing Circle Journal participants who have allowed be to take a virtual trip through the United States whilst sitting on my couch. The only problem is that it has now whetted my appetite even more for this fantastical trip .... ah a girl can dream :)