Laura Rumble - Crafter

Here is a sweet little wreath I made using some 3mm ribbon and the butterfly nature ribbon. I picked up a plain metal wreath from a market in Henley.  I gave it a rough and light coat of gesso and then spritzed it with some mists. I generously applied matte medium to the back of the butterfly ribbon and allowed it to dry.  This stiffens the ribbon and stops the edges from fraying enabling you to cut out shapes from ribbon.   I attached my butterfly with glue gel. Having the colour of the butterfly on one side and nothing on the other didn't look quite right so I added a few tufts of red to the other side of the wreath to balance it out. I have used; nature ribbon - butterflies 3mm satin in off white and lilac mist 3mm grosgrain Thanks for stopping by

I felt I needed a sketch to work with and had a poke around.  I liked the one over at Sketch'n'Scrap. I was working with my Counterfeit Kit for July.  I thougth I hadn't really used much washi this month so along with the sketch I wanted to use lots of washi... I switched the stars in the sketch for washi circles, and the layers of paper for acetate. I love how this has turned out, it makes me smile, and so it's probably a sketch I'll use over and over. Thanks for stopping by!

My enthusiasm for writing blog posts is missing today.  Rather than write 5 posts I'm going to mush all the layouts and questions in to one... maybe best to grab a cuppa! First up, I need a little help (or perhaps more than a little!!) .  I'm channelling Paige Evans a la (who?!  I read a post, I think a CKC'er, who did a post on Paige that inspired me.  For the life of me I cannot remember who, the blog name, I've been through my history and can't find it, argh!  If it was you please tell me so I can credit you!!  You inspire me!) and came up with this half layout.  The thing is I don't know which way round the photo goes.  I started off with the photo at the top, trying to be inspired by rather than copying. Edit:  It's Andrea from Hippie Art Studio who started me off on this It just looks like triangles draining out of me whilst I sleep.  The other way looks like triangles funnelling in to me whilst I sleep.  What word...

So over at SJ's there is an intriguing challenge.  Sarah has started a layout, given us the dimensions and positions for us to copy, then we all split off and finish it however we like.  Sort of a jump start to a layout - no thinking until half way through. I've used my Counterfeit Kit for all my supplies. Here is my start; It's almost the same measurements as Sarah's, but as I was using my more-than-half-used kit I had to make do with the paper pieces I had left.  Here (with a little too much flash) is my finished layout; I've decided that a) I print far too many photos and b) I'm never going to get round to putting all the photos I have on layouts.  My solution = stuff an envelope pocket with 5 photos.  They are all in the first few days of life when everything warranted a photo.  (Mind you,  :)  I still think everything warrants a photo!)  When he is bigger and wants to look through he can easily slip the photos out of...

Another layout using the sketch from Me and Mine and contents from my Counterfeit Kit .  I kind of love this sketch! Little cluster in the top corner using washi, stickers, dots and acetate... A title banner at the bottom using the pennant shape - I think we could call this shape of the month! A selection of papers and a sprinkling of sequins... Thanks for stopping by

More macro playing, not perfect but still beautiful. Linking up at Friday Smiles

Can I share two layouts with you today?  They are both made with my counterfeit kit ... Nap Time. I used a ton of frames on this layout... Some wood, some acetate, some paper, most muted in colour and all filled with lovely spotty paper. The flair is from Hey Little Magpie and I'm using it as my title too.  I bought it because there is a baby around and I was bound to get some cute photos of him snoozing.  Little did I realise I'd catch Grandad and Baby snoozing together!  :)   Are You Serious? Ah, the face!  So full of expression.  I was showing him a bird book, he wasn't impressed.  I now have a book about teddies which seems to be more to his taste  :) I managed to use some of the stickers I promised I'd use up.  And a couple more acetate shapes. Still clean and simple and me. Thanks for stopping by

This is my take on challenge 2 for July's Counterfeit Kit Challenge .  We were to use more than three techniques.  I'm never entirely sure what counts as a technique.  Let me run you through what I've done and you can tell me how many are actual techniques and how many I've made up!! Paint splattering.  I didn't have any matching ink so I let down a little bit of acrylic - it worked just as well. Sticker outlines.  I cut out the over-run of the stickers and use them as extras.  Makes a sheet of stickers go twice as far :)  Is stash-stretching a technique? Using 3d glue gel.  I love to use this on butterflies to keep them 3d even when you squash them in to wallets. Colour changing a PL card.  This cute card with the banner had red dots to begin with.  It jarred with the photo so I painted over each red dot with the acrylic paint I used to splatter the background. Matting.  Is this a technique?! Of course I ad...

Have you been suffering from hay fever this summer?  Mine has been awful!  To make blowing my nose 200 times a day a bit more bearable I jazzed up a kraft tissue box... I've used gesso as a base for acrylic paints and added a strip of butterfly ribbon.  I took the pink and lilac flowers from the background of the ribbon and carried them through in the painting. I stippled a few shades of blue on the lid - I was really pleased with how it turned out. I'm really loving using this butterfly ribbon - have you got some yet?  Thanks for stopping by!

Another layout wit my Counterfeit Kit... Still loving these sparkly thickers.  I used them and a flair to spell out my title... I also love this sheet of patterned paper from cocoa daisy. I added in a acetate/transparency.  Not really sure what they are called! And put it together on a sheet of pale grey for this layout: And he is usually so happy - love him to bits! Thanks for stopping by.

This layout started off by following the sketch at Stuck .  It ended up quite far from the sketch... But I'm happy with it. The triangles are chunky chipboard and have been covered with paper from my counterfeit kit. The alphas were not very sticky so I ran them through the sewing machine to be on the safe side and added a metal clip. Thanks for stopping by!

'Nother layout from my Counterfeit Kit...  I think because I am still stuck on clean and simple the kit is stretching much farther than I thought.  I vowed to use all the paper and most of the stickers.  I didn't realise that I'm not too good with stickers!  I made extra effort on this one... Sticker and ribbon in the top corner. Six stickers in a cluster with thread and a peg. A couple more stickers, more ribbon and an acetate heart. All together... Thanks for stopping by!

Maybe not the most beautiful subject but none of the butterflies would come in to our garden!!  Playing with my macro lens.  Linking up at Friday Smiles

Challenge time over at Crafty Ribbons Challenges .  Marianne has picked the theme and it is Fairies.  I'm not going to lie - I struggled.  I looked at photos dating back to 2005 and could find nothing of my girls that was remotely fairy-ish.  I looked through all my stash - again nothing fairy-ish.  I then though about the Tooth Fairy...  The Tooth Fairy is a fairy, right?  Says so in the name...  So out came the box of photos and I went back to 1989 and found this one. I used a sketch from Me & Mine . I used stripes , satin 3mm and satin 22mm all from Crafty Ribbons.  And papers and stickers from my Counterfeit Kit. Thanks for stopping by!

 Ah, it's the 'desk of shame' this week...  I seem to have adopted the shove-it-to-the-right method this week.  It's piled quite high and well, you can see. And even the work in progress on the cutting matt has had stuff piled on top... Bad Laura!  Why not pop over to Julia 's for a huge linky of other deskers, most of whom will be much less naughty than me :) See you at your desk!

Still using my Counterfeit Kit, but feeling like a sketch was needed, I went searching and came across this one from Colorful Creations : I made myself a chevron template... and cut some out in blue and white.  I patched together a 12x12 from remaining green sheets of patterned paper. I felt it needed something more so I punched some confetti dots in matchnig blue, threw them on and stuck them down. The title comes from things that the girls were saying - I'm so old and out of touch I didn't know cray cray is the current slang for crazy *sigh*  :) Thanks for stopping by!