Living my dream

A card using Scrapmatts chipboard

A long time ago I first created a white only layout. It was before I'd seen anyone else do it and I LOVED the effect. To date, I still use that as a 'go to' when I'm not really sure what my plans are for a project.

And so this card evolved. I knew I had some Scrapmatts chipboard that I wanted to have a play with, and I was thinking a card. The card base was white, so why not use my brand new Kryon gesso spray to colour the chipboard?! Genius. So much easier and quicker. 

If you use Gesso, then you might like this product I've only just found (I'm sure some of you will already be using it! I'm so slow!)....

Gesso in a spray can. LOVE!!! Perfect for those fiddly little bits we all have!

So I grabbed it and some newspaper, and sprayed away. Then because I was impatient, I grabbed my heat gun, dried it (it should only take 15 mins, but heating only took 2!). And it was done.

I took some Kindy Glitz and added some sparkle to the chipboard and it was ready to use....

Don't you just love the intricate design of the chipboard? Beautiful.

So how did I create the front of this card?

1. Spray your chipboard with Krylon Gesso spray

2. Emboss the front of your card.

3. Take the 'middle' from your chipboard piece and use as a template to cut the middle from the front of the card.

4. Add a sentiment across the hole in the card - in this case I printed onto canvas! Love the look!

5. Add small white flowers around the edge of the inside of the hole.

6. Add a large Scrapmatts chipboard ornate frame around the edge of the hole you cut.

7. Add a small Prima resin angel onto the middle bottom of the chipboard.

And when you open it up how does the inside look?

Well, I felt it needed something special inside too. So I used a Spellbinders die to create another frame for the inside (this time thinner, being paper, so the card closes nicely).

And then put it together as below:

1. Line up the hole on the outside with the middle you cut earlier. Adhere this middle to the spot inside the card where it matches.

2. Adhere your Spellbinders frame over the top of the embossed 'middle'.

3. Finally add another piece of Scrapmatts chipboard (cute little bird cage), to the bottom, middle of the frame so it shows through to the front of the card and adds a special frame around the angel when looking from the front. I had also sprayed with Gesso and added Kindy glitz.

And you have a quick and easy card that could be used for any occassion.

Using some new Spellbinders dies

Today I made a card using some of Spellbinders delightful new dies. They are small and cute and perfect for cards. Can you tell I adore them? 

This time around I also used one of their embossing folders. I have to admit I don't usually emboss things, there are often the most beautiful patterns on the papers already, but this time, I LOVED the folder and the paper was perfect to give it a try.....

See the square in the middle? That's what I've embossed. Doesn't it look cute?! Uh huh!!! All I did was sand a bit off and it gave it a real distressed, whimsical look. Love.

The papers I've used are from Prima's new Seashore collection. It's just been released and is gorgeous. And as you can see, I've used it in a very un sea like way. Grin.

As you can see the card is a little different to the 'norm'. I first saw it being made at the Scrappy Hollows camp just outside of Timaru. Thanks Liz!!! And now am giving it a go myself. It's actually alot easier to make than it looks and I'll definitely be teaching it in the future.

Above you can see it from the top for a better view!

Ok, so the new dies.... have you had a guess? Yep, the birds and the 'thank you'. Isn't the 'thank you' just the perfect size for cards?! It comes in a set with 'Happy birthday' and 'You and me' as well. I can imagine I'm going to get a lot of use out of these in the future!

So here are the numbers in case you want to look for them yourselves:

IN-012 - Inspire Celebration

IN-024 - Inspire Birds on a wire

S4-328 - Foliage (was used on the inside of the card and will be used in my Brisbane classes!).

It's a long weekend here for us in NZ as we remember ANZAC day and the soldiers who fought for us both now and in the past. And with a nip in the air, it's a good time to get some crafty done too. Hope you have a wonderful weekend wherever you are!

Biz Kids Whangaparoa and the cards I've made for Sarah's stall

Biz Kids at Whangaparoa Plaza is on again today. Yay!!! My kids love it. It means they get to earn extra money over and above their pocket money (and it's usually alot more than their pocket money). It's a great way for children to learn about business, how it works, how to order product, what sells, what doesn't etc etc.

For example. I make cards. But I often have way more than I need. So I sell them to Sarah (at a very minimal cost - just to make a point really) and her cousin Esther and they then sell them at their stall. The difference they make between my cost and the buyers payment, minus the stall cost is their profit. It's fantastic.

They also sell miniature things. Fruit, lollies, cake, etc etc (but all fake, made from resin).

So last night I sat down and made some extra cards. I was in the mood to do something 'just because' and it made it easy to add to the kids stall.

I was using a palette of 'green' earlier in the day, so I used the leftovers. This is what I came up with....

I showed this punch on my facebook page a few days ago. It's so cute! I adore it so just had to use it.

A nice simple one. Last time we were at Biz Kidz an elderly lady commented on how lovely my cards were, but perhaps a bit too dimensional - how do you post them she asked. She had/has a valid point!!!

I wanted to use my brick embossing again, and was trying to figure out how, when I remembered my window die from Spellbinders. So put it together with a few punched flowers and rambling vines to make this cute card.

Finally this card. I was looking for a different card as they were popular last  time and found this design on Glimmercrafts blog after using their cutting/scoring instructions I then decorated it in a 'simple' Trina way.

So please come up to Whangaparoa plaza today and support the kids. There is such a wide variety of stalls that there's bound to be something you're bound to love.

See you there.

A new Spellbinders project

You all know by now, how much I LOVE Spellbinders products, right?! Uh huh. So it's no surprise that I use their products in one of my first layouts completed on my return home. 

Let's take a quick look at how I created this layout....

As I've been using texture paste and stencils alot in my projects over the last few months I decided I wanted to give it a go using a Spellbinders die cut as my stencil. So I chose a design that I loved and cut a few dies out....

I realised after I cut this die, that I really wanted more texture or intricate parts to be shown in the paste. So I used the small sized die that came in the same packet to create another look.

Of course if I'd been smarter about this I would have cut both pieces out at the same time. Grin. But that's ok. 

I put the smaller piece inside the larger piece, then started applying texture paste over them onto my page....

I then just peeled the frame off and used it another couple of times until I was happy with the look. 

I cut some more of the same dies out, and placed them on the page in the areas I wanted...

You can see there is now the stenciled pattern, plus actual die cuts over the top of the stencil.

I had also cut out some patterns from the paper range I was using (Prima Delight) and added them into the equation.

From here I decided that the larger die cut frames needed 'filling in' so added in a background to them.

From there it was just a matter of adding in some flowers, a photo and of course some journaling/title.

The photo was cut using the same die, the smaller nested version. I think it makes it fit so well into the page. Love how you get so many different dies that can be used seperately or together. Sigh. No wonder I love Spellbinders! Grin.

And so you see the final image again.

Here's a look at some close ups:

and

and

I love to use foam tape (pop dots) in my projects and this one was no exception. I've used it to layer the frames higher and higher. 

You can also see how I've used the main frame (that I used for the initial texture pasting stencil) as the main frame in the middle of the page that holds the photo. No wastage here! And it looks great!

Hope this has inspired you to look at your dies in a 'outside the box' kinda way.

Happy scrapping!

Spellbinders plus 7Dots equals CUTE!

Hi there everyone, today I'm putting on my Spellbinders cap to show you the cutest little project I've made in a long time. And it's easy too.

Using the Spellbinders square petal top box die, I cut out the above box on some 7Dots Studio papers. Then its just a matter of folding in the right places, adding a bit of glue and the box is complete. It really is that simple.

However, I don't really do 'simple' that well, so I had to add a few things to 'trinaafie' it. Using more paper from the 7Dots collection "All I Ever" I also used another couple of Spellbinders dies and cut out some leaves and a gorgeous scalloped border.

Adding them around the bottom of the box, gave it a little more interest and of course texture which I love.

On top of those I also added some flowers from Prima. Gotta love me some Prima flowers! And the box was complete.

Then I decided the box needed something to go inside it. And yes, chocolate would have been nice and fitted well. But I was thinking along the scrapping lines, so completed a little mini album made from one sheet of paper....

Yep, just one sheet of 12x12 paper, a few embellishments and it's done.

I made it to fit inside the box perfectly, and it does. Whew.

So a couple of pieces of paper, a couple of extra embellishments and you have a great little gift set to give to someone, or keep for yourself.

Spellbinders products used: Square petal top box, Foliage, A2 Scalloped borders one.

7Dots Studio papers from the "All I Ever" Collection

Prima flowers.

 

New creations using Spellbinders, including a 'how to' video

Recently Spellbinders had their DT call. I decided to give it a go, and while I got through the first round, unfortunately, that was as far as it went for me. As you know from my posts here, I LOVE Spellbinders and all their gorgeous products, so I thought I'd share with you what I created as part of my entry.....

First round was this delightful little hanging heart....

I used 5 different Spellbinders dies and the paper which is (both collaged and not) is 7Dots Studio.

The heart is an MDF piece I brought from Spotlight some time ago. It is meant to be hung on your door, but in this instance, I covered the hole for the door knob and put in a Spellbinders gate.

It is now hanging from Sarah's roof.

For round two, I created this cute layout....

For this round, I used another 5 dies. Scalloped circles, banner, gate, and two types of triangles. I also used a few doilies, and of course some Prima papers and embellishments.

We also had to create a video showing how our project was created. Here's my video....

 

For close up's of this layout click on my post on the Paperhaus blog where I'm showing this layout.

I hope you get a chance to do some crafting today!

A bright and beautiful tag

Recently I've had a couple of projects up on the paperHaus blog. The following is one I haven't shown here yet....

A tag is a wonderful thing to make. It's quick, it's small, it's easy and yet, it can still be creatively challenging. I love to work with these smaller sized items and had fun making this. I wonder if the colours helped me smile the whole time I was creating?!

As usual, I have used Prima, Spellbinders dies, lots of layering and a great deal of love.

PaperHaus is a fabulous blog which has a new project to draw inspiration from every day.

Take a look at this post or this one for some gift wrapping ideas.....

Or how about this post on finding your lost mojo....

Or what about our monthly sketches? Out each 1st day of the month. You can check out May's sketch here along with our designers takes on the sketch.

We've also had a series on fabulous designers we're seeing around the web. You can check out the last post by Emeline Seet right here.

We are also starting a new series, where the design team will answer your questions. Feel free to add one here, or on the paperhaus blog. The team will try and answer as best as possible.

Whatever you're looking for, paperHaus has it. Make sure you pop it in your blog feeds so you don't miss out on the next great post.

Spellbinders International Flair

Did you know that Spellbinders have a (relatively) new section on their website that you can look at and gain inspiration from? Uh huh! They do!

It's called 'Explore Blog'.

If you take a look (not right now, wait til the end! Grin) at the Spellbinders website click on the header at the top called 'Explore Beyond'. Then go down the list and click on 'Explore Blog'.

Here you'll find a ton of inspiration. Including 'International Flair' posts from the Spellbinders International Blog Ambassadors (yep, that's me!).

On the 3rd of May I'll have my first post go live for International Flair showing you this gorgeous wee mini album.

It's another of my 'one page' mini albums.

In fact its smaller than a normal mini because instead of starting with a 12" x 12" piece of cardstock, I used a Grand Nestabilities die to create the gorgeous design around the edges of the paper, thus it's smaller.

I then filled it with photos of our bike trip on Wednesday and decorated with some flowers, journaling and another Spellbinders die cut (the leaf).

A full tutorial for this mini album can be found at this earlier post. Just substitute the sizes slightly as instead of working with a full sized 12" x 12" page, I've used a die cut piece of paper.

Ok, now go back and check out the Spellbinders Explore Blog!

My Scrapbook Ideas - Classes in Indonesia

At the end of Jan, I was lucky enough to be in Indonesia teaching a couple of days of classes for My Scrapbook Ideas. I was also lucky that Spellbinders gave each student a gorgeous die and Prima was used for all projects. Ahhhh. Bliss.

I had sooooo much fun. I can't begin to describe how amazing the students were, the venues were, the hosts were.

JAKARTA

My first day was Friday in Jakarta.

Can you see the glorious mess we created? I love scrapbooking! Unfortunately just before I arrived there were some major floods and a couple of people had to cancel as their houses were under mud. My thoughts were with them and still are.

We had a photographer turn up to take photos of what we were doing. Apparently we're all going to be in the Martha Stewart Asian Magazine. Exciting!

We made two layouts, and a mini album. We didn't quite get to the card.

The venue here was in a restaurant so it made for an interesting class setting! Especially at lunchtime. I wonder what the lunchtime patrons thought of this crazy lady with a microphone directing people with bits of paper. It was so much fun!

SURABAYA

Surabaya was a different group of women and a young man. It was another great group and we had a lot of laughs.

Both days I couldn't have done it without my helpers cutting all the pieces that we needed. Thank you ladies!

Both of the class participants were lucky to use Prima's very cool new masks.

Again, lots of glorious mess! Love it.

And then time for some photos.

I was lucky enough to visit My Scrapbook Ideas store in Surabaya. I have to say it is one of the prettiest shops I've ever seen.

I love the white of the shop intersperced with the green tree and colours of all the product. Divine.

MSI also have an amazing DT and I would watch the names very carefully. I would not be surprised to see them appearing on manufacturer DTs very soon! They have such a unique and beautiful style. Surabaya just loves to layer. And I mean layer. Their layouts don't go in albums, but in frames on the wall. They are simply stunning!

And that is about it. A wonderful wonderful couple of days with an amazing company and their lovely customers.

If you get a chance to go to Indonesia, make sure you stop in at MSI. It will be well worth your while!

My Scrapbook Ideas, Prima, Spellbinders and me. Loving my classes for Indonesia....

Gosh I'm excited about traveling to My Scrapbook Ideas to teach.

I've just had confirmation from Spellbinders that they will be providing me with a die for each participant as a part of my class kit.

How generous and exciting is that news?

On top of the already incredible amount of gorgeous Prima product, I'm just so excited to be teaching these classes.

If you're in Jakarta or Surabaya, or you have friends there, let them know and get them to book in.

Can't wait to see you there!

PS: Talking about Spellbinders, have you seen my latest creation on their blog? Check it out in full here.

Class kits for sale - A brand new class exclusively for sale right here.

I had some spare time the other day. As well as some spare product left over from classes I've taught this year. Plus a few new things I wanted to try, like the gorgeous Spellbinders dies I've used and the cool rectangular doily!

So I thought self, why not make up a BRAND NEW class kit and sell it on your blog. So I did, and I am.....
Making use of Prima's delightful papers, flowers, resin pieces, lace and Say it in crystals, I've come up with this gorgeous layout.

In the kit:

Full colour class instructions.

All product needed to complete the layout.

Die cut pieces to use (sorry not the die itself).

What you will need to add: adhesives, white paint and your time.

Cost $45 + P&P

Postage:

Anywhere in NZ $7.50 flat rate for up to 3 kits (chat to your friends see if they want any and combine postage to make things cheaper!).

Australia $14.00 (up to 3 kits)

USA $19.00 (up to 3 kits).

I can give quotes for postage to other countries, please just email me (see link at top).

Payment to be made via paypal (overseas) or direct deposit NZ. And please note, these prices are in NZ$

I look forward to hearing from you.

Have a great day.

Trina.

Home Made Vintage Tea Party Birthday Invitations

Sarah's birthday is coming up in just over 2 weeks and we've been planning her birthday party for a LOOOONNNNGGGGG time. She's going to have a vintage tea party. We'll have a beautifully decorated table with lots of scrummy food, and play lots of old fashioned party games.

But before all that happens, the invitations need to go out. So we made these ones....

A paper teacup and saucer, filled with lollies and the 'detail' part of what's going on.

I brought out some spare papers I had and Sarah chose this beautiful pink/white Studio Calico paper (Sassafras Ethereal) which matches the colour theme of the party - pink and white.

Each tea cup and saucer was then wrapped in a cellophane bag with white seam binding holding it together.

And did you see the beautiful pink ball decoration? Sarah made that herself. Amazing.

So how did I make these?

First I have to admit, I cheated. I didn't make the template for the cups/saucers myself. I brought it from Waltzing Mouse Stamps. It cost me 2.5 pounds, but was worth every cent.

I was then able to cut out each piece, stick it together ready for the rest of the invite.

Of course if you wanted you could decorate the teacup and saucer further, but for this purpose, as is was fine!

Then I made the 'details' part of the invite. I realised I needed something quick and simple so decided a die would probably be the best way to go so went to Scotties to see what they had. I got chatting to Wendy Jones and she showed me a very cool die that makes boxes, but would make the perfect little envelope if tweaked a little.

And that's what I LOVE about Spellbinder dies. I've now got a fantastic die that can be used to make cute little boxes, or other things depending on your creativity.

So what did I do?

First use the die that makes the top of the box and cut it out.

Then cut the sides (that are the used to stick the sides of the box together) of the die off, so you are left with just an envelope shape.

Fold the sides of the paper along the scored areas. Then again about 2mm higher (towards the edge of the paper, not the middle).

You've now got a little envelope where you can add the 'details' of the party on a seperate piece of paper inside.

Even though we didn't need to 'secure' the envelope, we decided a little white tag would make it look really pretty, and we could put each girls name on it too. 

And it was easy. We just put the string around the envelope then put the tag through the two pieces of string and pulled it tight.

On the back you can see we added wording to show what party Sarah is having.

In hindsight, I wonder if these invites were more for me than her, but she was pretty stoked with them, so that's all that matters!

Here's hoping the party comes off as well as the invites.

Spellbinders D-Lite Dies - a new card

I'm so thrilled to show my latest card on the Spellbinders blog.

I've used the gorgeous new D-Lite dies. They are sooooo cute it's not funny, and being smaller are cheaper than 'normal' too.

For instructions on how I made this card, click on THIS link, where you can find full instructions including photos.

PS: Yes, the gorgeous green paper, flowers, butterflies, crystals and leaves are from PRIMA!

A Prima Tutorial

Hi there everyone! It's my turn to share some Primaliciousness with you today.

As it's the school holidays in NZ we've been hanging out with my nieces a bit meaning I've had some great photo opportunities. I took this photo just the other day and decided it 'had' to be scrapped.

I'm stoked as it seems to have caught each of their individual personalities in just the one photo.

Here's the layout I created with the photo.

To create this layout I've used the beautiful Zephyr collection, making the most of it's 'softer' sides.

To see how I put it together, please take a look at this short (1 minute) video....

 

In preparation, I did add the muslin to the back of the photo mat. This was pretty easy. I just popped a border of glue around the outside of the back of the mat, then scrunched and adhered the muslin as I went around the mat.

Here's a close up

and

and

Supplies used:

Supplies used:

844455 – Zephyr Gramercy

844486 – Zephyr Tempore

556808 – Miss Godivas Caladon

556846 – Miss Godivas Marshmellow

554613 – Decorative Wood embellishments

559267 – Wood Buttons Romance Novel

554705 – Resist Canvas

544232 – Alphabet Stickers

891428 – Eros Shabby Chic Treasures

891442 – Shabby Chic Treasures

557621 – Parisa Aspen Mix

557997 – Hermosa Teal

557652 – Laraine Blue Lagoon

Other: Spellbinders die (Ribbon Banners large), Muslin, Doily.

I hope you've enjoyed taking a look at how this type of layout can be made. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you!

 

Easy goody bags using Spellbinders

I loved creating the wee gift bags that I created for my Spellbinders post today.

So cute and simple! Admittedly these ones are made in 'Halloween' colours to suit the Halloween theme that's coming up in USA, but they could easily be made in a variety of different colours to be used for different themes.....at Xmas time, for a birthday, Easter, or 'just because'.

Here's a sneak peek

For full individual photos and a step by step on the witches broom, pop on over to my post here.