Mementoes In Time

Todays project idea is to make a cute little plant pot filled with hearts and love. It was really quick to do and a nice little gift for someone special. Again, I think Valentine's Day is about telling those you love how you appreciate them as much as for lovers, so you could make this for a friend or family member. I have actually just used mine as a decorative piece rather than a gift.

I am using my mini hearts (photo/video tutorial coming soon - Update, shelved to next year cos I ran out of time, which I have covered with glitter glue and left to dry before gluing them with a hot glue gun onto some thick beading wire.

I know I don't have to tell you but do mind your fingers as that glue is unbelievably hot and I have lost count of the times I have screamed as the glue attaches itself to my fingers and I flail around trying to get it off!

If you like, you can just use bought embellishments and you can find heart embellishments all over the place if you don't want to make them but I do like to make my own from scratch as that is part of the fun.

The beading wire is bright silver so I chose to dab the pieces first with some green Distress Paint to tone it down a bit. The wired hearts were then pushed into some florist oasis in the miniature plant pot and covered with some of that ferny moss stuff you can get in the florist supplies. This gives the appearance of leaves so that you don't have to faff around trying to cut miniature leaf shapes.

Then finish off the pot with some coordinating ribbons.The little label was just a piece of chipboard cut to shape, dabbed with Picket Fence Distress Ink and then stamped with the tiniest stamps I had in my stash!

I hope you have enjoyed this Valentine's Day series, there are a couple more projects to come but I realise that we are running a bit late this year, so they will be posted up in a bunch.

If you followed the Christmas projects posted on the blog, you will have seen that decorated pegs featured in a few of them. I love the effect from simply painting the pegs white and stamping on them. For this project, I have stamped individual letters and used them to keep my decorated money wallets closed. Money wallets, if you are not sure are just those little brown envelopes you can get in any stationery store but of course you could just use mini envelopes.If you don't have those then browse around the member pages, I am pretty sure I posted a free download to something similar you could use a while back!

There is a note inside each one but you could add a small chocolate gift inside instead and you could hang these banner style on a string.

I just love this set of pastel papers which work so well together and the fact that they are pink rather than red, makes me happier to give to a friend or daughter and not just your 'better half'!

Welcome to the second project idea in this year's Valentines Day Series of projects. This sweet little mini canvas was so simple to make but I love how it turned out. I am inspired to make lots more of these little art pieces, so once I have got finished with all the other things I have planned, I will be let loose to play with my tiny embellishments that work so well on these small canvases.

I have used a scrap piece of paper I had to cover the front of the canvas, then brushed around the edge with some Distress ink, before adding a small chipboard birdcage, which I have painted with some white paint and slightly rubbed with a little black paint into the crevices. The flowers were from another project from the past, I can't remember which but I do tend to scavange embellishments and ribbons off old 'makes' as I can't bear to throw anything away!

The butterfly is a little brad and I have added a simple stamped word, brushed around the edges with Tattered Rose Distress Ink. This took me minutes to make, it really did but I am thrilled with the final piece that is taking pride of place above my fireplace. I know my dear Mum would have loved to have seen this one. So, if you have any of those mini canvases around, why not make one of these lovely display pieces and give it to a loved one or friend.

As promised, in today's post we will be making some paper poinsettias that you can use to make the Chipboard Screen Display or use on any other papercraft projects. Again, because I am a nice person, I have added a free template to the Member pages, so check there if you want to make some flowers along with me.

The template includes flowers in three sizes, so you can make two different sized poinsettias. I have cut two of one size and one of a smaller size here but you can add as many layers as you like. I also cut a green one in the larger size to act as leaves but forgot to add it into the photo above. After cutting them out, I have just punched a hole through the middle of each flower.

Now you can start shaping the petals to get the effect that you want, depending on the project. If you are making a card for sending, you may wish to leave the petals flat. I just used a bamboo skewer to fold and shape each petal but if you have a shaping tool, even better. Then just layer them up, offsetting each one so the petals don't overlay each other.

Here is the bit that really gives your paper flower a realistic look. These stamens are super cheap and you can usually pick them up on Ebay. I have some gold ones here but if you have another colour, you can add some Distress Paint or similar to recolour them. I folded them in half to get the stamens all clumped together and then you just feed the string through the hole in the petals.

Here is my finished poinsettia.

I have added some Distress Ink (Festive Berries) to add a little dimension.

Then a final layer of a green flower underneath finishes the flower off nicely.

Really pleased with how these turned out. For the smaller flowers, you could use drops of Liquid Pearls to add the stamens rather than feeding through the beaded stamens, as they can be fiddly. I hope you have enjoyed today's post and you can pick up the template on the Member Pages.

For today's project we are making another Christmas gift box with the Chipboard Tag Box template. The other day, we posted a project to make an unusual 'grown up'  Advent Calendar but there are so many other ways to use this template.

For this project the box has been made and decorated as a recipe box, containing lots of my favourite Christmas recipes. You could make this for a friend or just for yourself!  Each tag is covered with different paper scraps I found in my 'bits and pieces' box. I am always looking for ways to use up these!I have added a ribbon handle for my box because I am looking to demo this in two ways but that is of course up to you.

Another idea is to simply use the box as a gift box, filled with chocolates, handmade goodies or other treats. The addition of a handle on the top makes it easy to carry and give to someone. I hope you have enjoyed these projects. Please visit again soon for more in our Christmas Series 2017.

If you have got the Tag Box Template, featured in an earlier post, here is another project using this file. This time, I wanted to use some of the gorgeous Distress Oxide Snowflake backing paper I made here, together with some wrapping paper that I bought last year and absolutely love. It has turned up all over the place in different Christmas projects and today is no exception!

This is a simple box of tags for use, which I have made for a friend. The use of luxurious ribbons and a festive greeting on the box, make this a nice hand crafted but useful gift. If you prefer to make a gift box then you can!

Here I have taken out the tags, added a ribbon handle and created a lovely gift box with this same project.

You can get his saleable template listed on the left hand sidebar under Chipboard Templates. Thanks for joining me again and see you soon for another post in the Christmas 2017 series!

With December rapidly advancing, today's project is a lovely little Advent Calendar idea, using the new Tag Box Template, one of our saleable templates you can find under Chipboard Templates on the left hand sidebar.

All the saleable templates are super cheap, this one is only $1, but they do help to support the site, pay for the site fees etc, so do consider having a browse there. We have heaps and heaps of free stuff too on the Member pages, so register with the site to get acess to those.

The idea is that sometimes it is nice to make an advent that is not focussed on chocolate, or maybe you want to make a more adult themed advent for someone special in your life, as I have done here. Each tag has a message on the reverse but you could add a non-edible treat idea, like 'a trip out to the movies' etc.

I had such fun making this one and it didn't take too long to do at all. To complete the whole project including the 24 tags took about a day to do but not solidly working.

This project is simplicity itself, once the box has been constructed, you can just use co-ordinating festive papers to decorate both the box and each tag. I have used some die cut numbers on a punched scallop circle and lots of Distress Inks to add some depth.

Alternatively, you can use this as a lovely gift box for a treat for a special someone and there will be a couple more ideas along this theme posted here on the blog over the next few days, so come back to visit if you would like to see those.

In the meantime, thanks for joining me here and Happy Crafting!.

Today I wanted to just share a technique that I stumbled across by accident and I think you agree the 'mistake' turned into some pretty stunning backgrounds.I am so in love with this technique that I keep making them so soon I will have mounds of tissue papers just begging to be used!

I'll post up some cards I made with these backgrounds in another post but for now, here is the technique that I call Crumpled Tissue Distress Oxide Backgrounds.

I am working with my Distress Oxide inks, choosing similar colours with an accent colour, eg all blues, with a little violet, then all greens with a little yellow and all oranges and reds.

So here is my tissue paper I was using for something else but decided to hijack and use for this. I have just cut a few squares here to play around with.

Ok, so next you just screw the tissue up into a ball, unwrap it and do it again a few more times if you like but be a bit more careful than you would normally be with just paper, as the tissue can tear easily.

Carefully unwrap the tissue and get it flat but don't iron out all the creases. I actually cut a square of card and then lightly taped my tissue to it, folding the edges around the outside and fixing on the back of the card. This helps to keep the tissue in one piece and gives you something to hold onto when you go to the next stage.

Now you can add your colours to the mat. The ones I am using here were for a green themed background and not the ones that produced the background you can see in the photos below. Just do the normal process you do for Distress Oxides by wiping the pad along the craft sheet, adding a spritz of water and then dipping and dragging the tissue paper until you get the look you like.

Here is my tissue still wet from the dipping process. You can see that the tissue is ruckled but leave it to dry or go over it lightly with a heat gun and the tissue will settle down again and go flat.

I also added some metallic spray inks on top, silver on the blue one above, gold on the green and copper on the red backgrounds, just to give a bit more glitz and sparkle.

The colours here are just amazing and really the photos don't do it justice at all. I am a complete fan of these beautiful Distress Oxide Inks, so if you like inks and you like playing around and getting in a wonderful mess in your craft space, you should put a set of these on your Christmas list!

Here is my finished background in all its gorgeous 'lustrenous' (not sure if that is a word) but I just love it!!

I'll post up some cards to show what I did with these backgrounds in another blog post but to be honest I love them so much they almost don't need anything done to them at all!

In an earlier post, we looked at using baby wipes to create some beautiful backgrounds for cards and other projects. Two of the demo cards had mini waterlilies on them, so I just wanted to do a quick post showing how they were put together. Each one was made slightly differently but the overall effect was more or less the same. What you are going for when you make paper flowers is a representation, rather than a perfect rendition. This is because most of us do not have a huge range of craft tools to produce all the shapes we could use. Sometimes we have to make do and improvise!

Here I have punched out a few flower shapes that I am going to use and brushed each one with some chalks.

You will see that I only had one size of the main flower shape, so I had to use two daisy punches for the smaller flowers. You could also use our Flower Layering Template Number 2 to cut some flower shapes.

Next to add some dimension as we layer them up, I used a piecing tool, (you could use an embossing tool or even one blade of a pair of scissors) to just pull along the petal and flicking it up to make it curl slightly. When layered, you will get a much more realistic flower if you shape the petals a bit. So I went ahead and layered them up to create the rendition of a waterlily.

I have added a few dots of liquid pearls in lemon to the centre for the stamens and a couple of handcut waterlilies to finish the notelet we featured on a previous post.

I hope you have enjoyed this blog post. Please do leave a comment below or you can comment me using the Contact Form on the sidebard if you have any questions.

Today I am showing how I made the rusted effect wheel for my display wheelbarrow chipboard projects. This is a really simple technique and the effects are pretty good. There are other ways of achieving a rusted finish but this one is certainly one of the easiest.

First off, I am covering the wheel that I have cut from the template with Brushed Pewter Distress Paint. I could have used Copper here also.

Once dry, I dabbed the wheel onto my Embossing Ink Pad and added some Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder. I was attempting to not cover the wheel completely initially, to create a patchy effect if you like but actually, this wasn't necessary to do, because of the way these powders work.

Tip: With these embossing powders it can be difficult to know when they are heat set. They do have a tendency to burn and give off smoke but don't panic. Just do it in stages until you are happy you have the right finish. You will know that the embossing powder is set, once the finish is more like sandpaper, than sand on the beach (according to Tim Holtz)!

Once heated and cooled, you can start to rub the surface and some of the powder will be removed.

I ended up rubbing off too much of the powder for the first try but this isn't a problem, as you can go back in and repeat the process. The next time, I went for some Black Soot Embossing Powder to fill in some of the gaps.

Again, I wasn't desperately happy, so I went back in for a third time with some more Vintage Photo powder.

For this example, I covered the whole wheel with powder, leaving no silver showing, which actually I was happier with.

Tip: Instead of fiddling around adding different colours, you can simply mix a bit of each powder together first, which I found to be quite successful. It can be more wasteful if you are not making similar projects but you can always keep the surplus for a future project. This give a great and consistent mix to the powder, with the Vintage Photo and Black Soot plus any other colour you want, being evenly distributed.

Join me again for the next post, where I will be showing how I made the little plant pots used in the photos with the wheelbarrows!

Here are a set of photo instructions to make the Chipboard Wheelbarrow from the template

Carefully cut out all the pieces following the template, as all the pieces have been designed to fit together in a certain way.

Affix the two side pieces to the base. The base is slightly longer so there will be a small gap at each end which is where the front and back will fit

Then affix the front and back pieces to the base and sides. They should sit on the base at the bottom and then be glued to the sides

Cut, score and fold the handles

The folds at the other end of the handle which will attach to the wheel

Punch holes in the ends

Fix the stand onto the underside of the base

Then add the support piece gluing it to the stand and the base

Sand off any rough pieces from the wheel. A small nail file works well for this

Attach the wheel to the handles

Decorate with paints, papers etc. It is would be easier to paper the shapes first before assembling but paint can be used once the wheelbarrow is assembled

Before painting, it is helpful to coat the chipboard with gesso, as a primer. In a future blog post we will look at how to get a faux wood effect for the wheelbarrow using paints and inks and how to get a rusted finish on the wheel, to give an authentic finish.

As you know, if you follow this blog regularly, we like to pick up all kinds of projects, not just papercraft. All things are an adventure to be discovered and today's project is an example of that....when you ask yourself, 'What if I did this, what will happen?'

I have to say I was so happy with the outcome, creating something so beautiful from something so ugly, so I hope you enjoy reading about it too!

I had a pile of these old brown bottles lying around due to go into the recycling collection, You know the type, the ones you get with cough medicines and the like in.

Obviously, you can't go in and decorate without sealing or priming the surface in some way, particularly with brown bottles, where nothing shows up, so i added some white gesso here mixed with some PVA white glue, in the hope of getting it to stick a bit better. I am not sure exactly how much but probably about 1/4 to 3/4 of glue to gesso but you could of course try it without.

Pick out your alcohol ink colours. This is the fun part and can be a bit hit and miss, although I do find alcohol inks very forgiving. Just dab the colours on in the normal way, using the blending tool and enough blending solution to give you an effect that you like.

Here you can see the first example, which I think turned out really nicely

The addition of some sitck on gems, also dabbed with the same alcohol ink colours, a ribbon and a sentiment, together with a few fresh flowers from my garden, makes a gorgeous gift for a friend, or to keep for yourself. Cover your bottle with some gloss varnish to make it a bit more sturdy, especially if you are making vases like I have done here.

Here are a few more in different colour schemes. You could simply make a collection for display, as they are so pretty!

Can't resist Distress Oxides!

I hope you are appreciating my bad puns. You guessed it, today we are looking at a few resist techniques, as usual with lots of photos to refer to. This is a standard technique used, I know it is not rocket science but I am just trying to show what happens when you are using the Distress Oxide Inks. Some of the results are lovely, with the pastel background effect and a highlighted image.

Example 1 - Using Clear Embossing Ink Wet

Here I have stamped my flower image in Versamark ink and applied the background right away while the ink is still wet. The wet embossing ink attracts colour to give a darker impression

Example 2 - Using Clear Embossing Ink Dry

Two examples of this technique. I dried the Versamark first before adding the Oxide background this time. This gives a very faint impression and in fact as your card dries, the impression can disappear altogether. I tried adding some wax to the image, using darker inks but there didn't seem to be a right or wrong way to capture an impression. Trial and error I'm afraid, which is a shame as I really liked this batik style result.

Example 3 - Embossing Powder Resist

I'm using a clear embossing powder for this one which I have heat set before adding my background. The impression is much clearer as you would expect and works beautifully with the pastel oxide background. This is reminiscent of chalks for me but with the extra depth and vibrancy of an ink.

Adding some splashes of water, reactivates the ink and leaves a lovely effect that works well with this resist technique to give a gorgeous batik style piece

Here I am just demonstrating the effect with adding ink in a direct to paper fashion. You can polish off the excess ink on the embossed images to get a clearer impression, which I haven't done here.

Tip: If you want to remove the raised embossing, you can iron the paper or card on the reverse and on a low heat. This will melt the embossing powder and give you a smooth finish on the front side.

Example 4 - Reverse Resist

This last one isn't really resist at all but I will stick it here. After creating your background with distress inks and a direct to paper technique works best for this, as you want a good strong colour, you then stamp onto the ink with a stamp which you have either sprayed with water or dipped into a puddle of water on your craft sheet.

After several tries with a dipped background, I am not sure that this technique lends itself to this. Better to use a solid block of colour that you get with a direct to paper background. The effect is very subtle but of course it depends on the look that you want.

Tomorrow's post will be looking at a basic wet background, followed by another stamping technique and a quick look at using stencils so join me again if you would like to follow along!

Important Stuff

Please ask if you wish to use our content - words, photos or designs. You can contact us here and we usually just ask for attribution links to be added.

I would like to say that this article is NOT sponsored in any way, I do not receive any remuneration and any enthusiasm for the product is genuine and without any kind of financial incentive whatsoever!

Today, I am posting some more card projects made with backgrounds that don't look too promising to show almost like a 'before and after'. Some are just simple backgrounds showcasing a stamp and others involve using the background to make an embellishment. I hope you can see that in your adventures with these inks, that there aren't really that many mistakes, as even if you think they look awful, sometimes all you have to do is look at it a different way. I am very happy with all these backgrounds even though most don't look that great to start with!

Ok, this doesn't look too promising at this stage. Once dried you can see that the ink has oxidised badly along the folds. Probably too much water involved. The paper was scrunched before adding ink from the craft mat, with lots of water but I am not sure what to do with this.

As this is quite a large piece, I decided the best idea would be to cut some shapes. This would hide some of the over-oxidised areas. I am using our Flower Layering Template Number 2 here to cut three flower shapes in decreasing sizes. The paper has a real tough, leathery feel to it, quite different to how it was before scrunching and inking.

Here is the simple torn paper card. The brad was coloured with Paint Dabbers to co-ordinate with the flower. The mix of colours on each flower layer is lovely and layering them creates added interest. Not such a bad outcome. I am quite happy with this.

A pastel mix here adding more colours as I went along. Actually, I was very happy with this one.

A stamped and embossed flower in white with a simple stamped sentiment is all that is needed against this beautiful background

This background had a mix of mainly Oxides with a bit of Distress to highlight and make bits stand out

Three more flowers, this time from the Retro Flower Layering Template Number 4

Mounted on a tag with a stamped background. The ink used for the stamp was also Oxides, designed to co-ordinate with the flower layers

Another flower, using our Daisy  Flower Layering Template Number 3. I haven't even got a photo of the background I did for this as it was so uninspiring. A lot of water and dragging the paper through the ink rather than dabbing, caused quite a flat image with not a lot of definition. I am not that happy with this tag but it was at least a use for the background I had made and you can never have enough tags!

That example on black cardstock I posted in the first post on Oxides, really reminded me of a galaxy scene. I was quite happy with this one and it was perfect for the card, I eventually made

This was made to celebrate my daughter passng her driving test, which unfortunately she didn't! Nevermind, it will go in the drawer for another occasion, as she has exams coming up soon. This wooden star was covered with the absolutely stunning Vintage Platinum Glitter from Tim Holtz and the embossed sentiment was from an old See D's stamp set I had.

I hope you have enjoyed today's post, we are only part way through this series, so drop in again soon for more. Next up, we will be looking at some more stamping and stencilling techniques.

Important Stuff

Please ask if you wish to use our content - words, photos or designs. You can contact us here and we usually just ask for attribution links to be added.

I would like to say that this article is NOT sponsored in any way, I do not receive any remuneration and any enthusiasm for the product is genuine and without any kind of financial incentive whatsoever!

Lets Be Direct About This!

I hope you are enjoying our series examining Distress Oxide inks. We have covered a bit of ground but there is still a lot more to come. When I get around to doing tutorials or ‘how tos’ I like to be thorough and try to cover it all, which means it can take some time to do and everything else gets left while I do.

A very short post today, showing a comparison between traditional Distress Inks and Oxides when used in the ‘Direct to Paper’ technique for those that like to use their inks this way.

Here I have chosen four inks and using the same colours from both Distress and Oxides to compare, by simply dragging the ink pads across a piece of cardstock.

The inks go on about the same but as you can see the Oxides (at the bottom of each piece) are a little more opaque, a bit like a paint chip card. The inks are slightly darker and more transluscent but the difference is greatest when you apply them, the Distress inks go on much darker but when they dry the colour moves towards the same tone as the corresponding Oxide ink and it is almost impossible to see a difference with some of the colours. I had to do the Broken China chip twice as I thought I must have made a mistake because they were so similar.

Conclusion

There is really not much between the two using this technique (assuming you are not adding water to them). You could use many of the colours interchangeably and just choose the tone you like best. When you add water, they both blend and move about but the Oxides dry slightly differently.

Next up, I will be looking at some Resist Techniques, not rocket science for most but a demonstration of the effects you can get with this ink, so join me then!.

Important Stuff

Please ask if you wish to use our content - words, photos or designs. You can contact us here and we usually just ask for attribution links to be added.

I would like to say that this article is NOT sponsored in any way, I do not receive any remuneration and any enthusiasm for the product is genuine and without any kind of financial incentive whatsoever!

Life in A Distressing World, Adventures With Oxide Inks (Part 3)

A Lovely Blend of Old and New!

Today’s post continues the series on using Distress Oxide Inks. One of the most used techniques with traditional Distress Inks is to use them with a blending tool.Rubbing around the edge of the paper with your old favourite Tea Dye Distress is the 'go to' technique most people have tried and like to use. The blend around the edge somehow gives your project dimension and depth and is a unique finish.

Distress Oxides work the same, although I have to say that I detect slightly more resistance in blending these onto my paper, which is not a big issue if it is the case. This is likely due to the mix of dyes and pigment inks, rather than the pure dye of Distress Ink.

1.Distress and Oxides basic blending two colours

The Oxides are on the left and the Distress Inks on the right. For the Oxides, the colours are bolder, the blending line is less subtle and as noted above, the ink doesn't slide onto the paper as easily. The result is a more matt and opaque finish.

2.Distress and Oxides blending around the edge of the card

Again, Oxides on the left. The colour is more muted, it doesn't apply as easily as Distress and my personal preference is to stick with Distress for this. However, the Oxides do a perfectly acceptable job at this task and the colour is lighter and it is a matter of prefererence according to your project.

3.Distress and Oxides blended together

The two inks blended quite nicely together here, it was actually quite difficult to tell them apart on this card. The comments made already about ease of application can be repeated. If you add water to the card, you get different effects, which can be interesting if you have used both on your project.

Conclusion

These inks do blend quite nicely. The colour you get on the paper is very vibrant and solid. Blending is a staple of Distress Inks and it is good to see that these new inks can be blended also, so you can get the same wonderful depth and dimension from using them in this way. I remain a fan of original Distress inks however, so I like to view this as just another tool in my toolbox and take the attitude of mixing and matching as I wish for each project I do, depending on the effect I want to achieve.

For the next post, I will be looking at Direct to Paper technique and following that, we will cover some resist technique examples, so please visit again if you are enjoying this review.

Important Stuff

Please ask if you wish to use our content - words, photos or designs. You can contact us here and we usually just ask for attribution links to be added.

I would like to say that this article is NOT sponsored in any way, I do not receive any remuneration and any enthusiasm for the product is genuine and without any kind of financial incentive whatsoever!

I've had so much fun with the new Teapot Template that I couldn't stop making demos. Goodness knows what I am going to do with them all - my card box is overflowing with teapots!

You can find this one on the Templates page (Ladies Templates).The template includes two designs, Round and Ornate each in two sizes, with stands if you want to make a display piece as well as traditional fold over cards. There is also a sheet of sentiments and tags but this template also works well with the sentiments included on the Tea and Coffee Time Digitals Collection and of course any stamps you have.

Not too many words, just photos, here are the demos with some brief project notes!

Small Ornate Teapot printed with Willow pattern design on glossy photo paper and finished with Glossy Accents Crackle Medium. Brushed with Tea Dye Distress Ink to show up the cracked effect and to 'age' the pot. Stamped sentiment

Large Round Teapot decorated with Floral paper, with layered flowers on foam pads to give dimension. Sentiment is from the template

Large Ornate Teapot decorated with Japanese print paper, with flower embellishment cut from the same paper with a brass brad and sentiment from the template. Brushed with Distress Ink for dimension

Large Ornate Teapot decorated with Floral papers, paper roses brushed with Distress Inks and a stamped sentiment

Trio of small pots using floral papers and Distress Inks to create a 3D effect

Small round teapot with adhesive pearls to embellish. Get the right colour pearl by brushing them with Distress Paints. Stamped sentiment.

On the left, Chinese papers used to decorate the Large Ornate Teapot, with dimensional embellishment using flowers cut from the paper layered up with foam pads. Stamped Friendship Tag.

Small ornate teapot decorated with floral paper, then stamped with a Crackle effect stamp and distress ink to give the aged/vintage effect.

Edged with distress inks for dimension and a sentiment from the Tea Time Digital Stamp Collection added. Stamped Tag and paper flower brushed with a Distress Marker also.

Large Ornate and Large Round Teapots simply decorated with floral papers. Round Teapot inlcudes sentiment from the Tea Time Digital Collection.

Large Round Teapot with simple spotty paper and stamped sentiment

Thanks for visiting!

I love finding different ways to present a gift. This lovely little Egg Carrier is a different idea and is modelled on those coffee carriers you can get. I was carrying my coffee to the car with an extra cup for the beloved husband and realised that it would make a great way to hold small easter eggs.

So off I went to design a template. Actually, I designed several templates and the other ones will find their way onto the blog at some point in the future I am sure. For now, there is one template to try if you want to make one. You can find the template on the left hand side menu under Boxes.

You can make them in several different sizes to fit most sizes of small Easter eggs. Here is the side view so you can see how they fit.

That just about wraps it up for our projects this year. There were lots more in planning that never made it to the final stages but they will be held over for next time, so I hope you have enjoyed following the ones we have got to. That just leaves me to wish a very peaceful and happy Easter period to blog readers and visitors from Mementoes In Time!

I think Easter lends itself to the natural look really well. Twines, raffias, simple Spring flowers, all make us feel part of the season. Following on from our earlier project where we make some lovely little Easter twine baskets, here is another decorative idea for you to try. These look gorgeous hanging on a twig tree or if you like, just make them without the hangers and display them in a faux bird's nest.

Simply wind your twine around your polystyrene egg, securing the top with a know and a pin to hold it in place. Use a good glue for this. I am using white PVA glue here so that I can move the twine around until I am happy with the position. You will then need to leave it for a few hours to dry.

Carry on winding around, adjusting as you go. You don't want any of the white foam showing through, so it is worth taking care.

Now you are ready to decorate.

Here is a smaller one decorated with ribbon and some punched daisies

As simple bit of vintage lace to decorate this one

Hang them on a twig tree for a lovely natural Easter decoration. If you have a natural look tree, even better!