Sea Breeze No Cut Gift Bag

August has sped by at such a pace. I cannot believe its time for my last Guest DT post for Couture Creations for the month.

I have made a very quick and easy Gift Bag for you to whip up at home when you need a quick gift solution in a hurry. The best part about this project is it requires no cutting, just a sheet of paper and a scoring tool or scoreboard. 

I had a trip to Melbourne and have had to photograph the steps for the project in my craft room at night so huge apologies for the poor colour quality.

We start off with a piece of patterned paper measuring 8.5"x11".

Score as follows" On the 11" side: 3/4", 4 1/2", 6 1/2" and 10 1/4"

On the 8.5" side score at 2" and at 6 1/2"

There are 4 diagonal score lines required too and these are marked on the diagram below.

Fold all four diagonal lines to the inside and glue down the flat pieces with double sided tape.

Next up we need to start decorating the gift bag. I cut out one ULT157545 Ultimate Crafts Background Gallery Collection Floral Lattice die and cut it in half.

 I then cut out 2 pieces of patterned paper at 4 1/2" x 1 1/2" and adhered the Lattice die cut to it. This will form the edge of my gift bag.

Attach it to the top edges of the gift bag.

We will then punch two holes on both sides of the gift bag and attach the ribbon for the handles with a brad.

The last step is to decorate the front of your gift bag as you wish.

These gift bags take very little time & effort to assemble and make such wonderful gifts for all occasions. I hope you will try to make one. 

Once again, I apologize for the poor colour quality of these pictures.

 Here is a list of the wonderful Couture Creations & Ultimate Crafts products that I used.

PRODUCTS USED

C0724905 Sea Breeze Collection Pack 

ULT157508  Magnolias (bunch of 5)

ULT157545 Ultimate Crafts Background Gallery Collection Floral Lattice

Tools

 CO721955 - Painted Non-Stick Scissors (14cm)

CO723828 - Non-Stick Craft Mat

Adhesives 

CO723899 - 3D Foam Strips

CO721985 - 6mm Double Sided Tape

CO724037 - Turbo Precision Glue Pen

Thank you so much for looking & happy crafting

Bridget

Noteworthy Layout with Couture Creations Sea Breeze Collection Pack

I am so excited to be a Guest Design Team member for August for Couture Creations. I got given some OH SO HEAVENLY things to play with. I could not pass up the opportunity to do a beach themed layout to scrapbook one of my favourite photos of my kidlets. I hope you like what I made and will feel motivated to get creative. Your local scrapbook stores should already have these items and if they don't, NAG!

Choosing papers for this layout using the Sea Breeze Collection Pack (C0724905) was very difficult as all the papers are just lovely. I cut out all the papers I need to create this slightly distressed layout. I dusted off my sewing machine and ran a straight stitch around all the edges.

Once this was all done I cracked open a lovely set of stamps by Ultimate Crafts Background Textures 2 Wire & Oil (ULT157632). I wanted to try inking/stamping with gesso and boy, did I love it. A thin layer of gesso on your craft mat and then put the stamp in it and apply randomly to the layout..Easy as pie and very effective.

Here is the stamped gesso all done & dry.

 Next up I got out my edge distressing tool and went around all the edges of my layered pieces. Ink them afterwards and you will already start having a very lovely looking layout.

Time to start sticking your layers down. Leave off the layer that goes behind your photo. We need to add a little bit of cheesecloth there and in the top left corner of the layout.

Once the glue has dried, add the photo mat layer.

Now comes one of my other favourite things to do..die-cutting and I cut these VERY detailed dies with the amazing Go Cut & Emboss machine from Couture Creations. Once they were cut I inked them up as I decided I wanted them to be dark brown. I did not end up using the leaves and stems but watch this space as I will be using them on another project soon. The scroll one is a beautiful die from the Ultimate Crafts Background Gallery Collection called Floral Lattice (ULT157545).

Assemble the layout with all your bits and pieces. I cut the shells from the paper in the Collection Pack called Navigating At Sea (C0724669) and then using a flower shaping tool I made them a bit more dimensional. Add 3d Foam tape and stick down.

These flowers are just amazing and hold up to intense inking and misting without falling apart like some other flowers do. Some pearls on a beach layout work beautifully.

I had to include a close up of how gorgeous the Floral Lattice die is.

PRODUCTS USED

C0724905 Sea Breeze Collection Pack 

CO724295A  Cottage Pollen Flowers

ULT157508  Magnolias (bunch of 5)

ULT157545 Ultimate Crafts Background Gallery Collection Floral Lattice

ULT157632 Ultimate Crafts Background Textures 2 Wire & Oil  

Tools

 CO721955 - Painted Non-Stick Scissors (14cm)

CO723828 - Non-Stick Craft Mat

Adhesives 

CO723899 - 3D Foam Strips

CO721985 - 6mm Double Sided Tape

CO724037 - Turbo Precision Glue Pen

Thank you so much for looking & happy crafting

Bridget

Timeless Beauty Layout with Couture Creations Hearts Ease

I am very honoured to have been asked to be the guest designer on the Couture Creations blog for the month of June.
I was sent a collection of goodies by Couture Creations, consisting of some of their new dies, embossing folders and the beautiful Hearts Ease collection.

I created this layout using a piece of off-white cardstock as my base, then adding C0724182 Pansy Background cut at 11.75" x 11.75" and C0724176 Orchard Delight cut at 11.25" x 11.25".

Both of these have distressed edges, created by using your scissors to "shave" the edges. Ink the edges with your favourite brown ink for a vintage look.

Glue the 3 layers together. Your layout should now look something like this.

Add some layers using various papers from the paper pad, they are all so gorgeous it was really difficult to choose. Layer them as per the picture below.

One of my new fave Couture Creations dies must be Jocund Julie (C0724303). I cut out some of the Hearts Ease paper using the die and then cut the square in half diagonally to create a faux photo corner.

Next create a frame using the dies in the Mirrored Flourishes set (C0724249).

Now that you have finished creating all the die cut decorative elements it's time to assemble the rest of your layout. Add your photo and title of your choice. My chipboard elements were inked and then misted to match the colour scheme in Hearts Ease.

Mist some flowers to match the layout and add some sparkle with a shimmer spray. The dragonfly was cut from the paper.

 One of the papers in the collection has some beautiful phrases on it, perfect to put in the oval frame I created. This one is from C0724193 Pansy Tags.

A close up of more of the flowers.

How lovely is the die cut as a photo corner. I added some of the Couture Creations flatbacked pearls for a feminine touch.

 Finish the assembly of your layout using all the bits you have created. This layout takes no time at all to complete.

Thank you for visiting with me today on the Couture Creations blog. I will be back next week with the second project as guest designer for June.

Couture Creations Products used:

C0724170 Hearts Ease Paper Pad

C0724249 Mirrored Flourishes set Die

C0724303 Jocund Julie Die

Until next time, happy crafting.

Prima Doll Tag with Couture Creations

Prima Doll Tag with Couture Creations

Hi, Bridget here again with my second project for Couture Creations as their Guest Designer for August.

I love making cards and every now & again I like to make these large tags instead of a normal card.

Using some pretty girlie papers from Bo Bunny and one of the Prima Doll stamps - Valentina I stamped her, cut her out and coloured her hair and cheeks using some chalks.

I stamped her clothes out on patterned papers and cut out all the pieces.

I covered a Prima Tag with patterned paper.

The next step I did was to cut a layer of spotted paper out to emboss using the beautiful Large Velvet Tea Lights embossing folder from the Marriot Collection (C0723669).

I then cut out the beautiful Splendour Ornamental Lace Die from the Treasured Collection. This is to go behind the tag and just to stick out a little bit for decorative purposes.

Mounting the embossed piece onto some plain cardstock I started assembling the tag, adding lace trim, flowers and the Prima doll that was now almost completely assembled. I added some of Couture Creations Pearls as her buttons.

The last step was to cut a paper bow to decorate the top of the tag, adhere the doily cutout to the back of the tag, add some word fragments and the tag was all done.

Thanks for having a look at my project and thank you to Couture Creations for having me as a Guest Designer for August.

Steampunk Top Hat

Steampunk Top Hat

Hi it's Bridget here and I am so excited to be invited to be a Guest Designer for Couture Creations for August 2014. I got sent the most gorgeous dies and embossing folders from Couture Creations as part of their new releases. They inspired me to create something with a steampunk theme and I thoroughly enjoyed making this. 

I cut and assembled a top hat from a file I had purchased. 

The next thing I did was to stamp and colour a steampunk stamp that I had in my stash.

 I cut a few strips from the Cog Border die from The Metricon Intricutz Die Collection (CO723739).

Next, I cut out a shape using the Victorian Rectangles die (C0723049) and placed a Cog Border die cutout over it and inked the rectangle with Distress ink to create a watermark effect.

 The Large Wire Barbs embossing folder (C0723666) was used on this purple cardstock to create one of the focal points on the front of my top hat. I matted it on a piece of black cardstock and added one of the Cog Border die strips.

The next step was to mist some flowers to match the colour scheme of the Steampunk Top Hat.

 I let the flowers dry and then started assembling all the pieces to my top hat. I added ribbon around the top edge of the hat to cover up all the seams.

It did not take long to make this project and I think the embossing folder and dies made it look that much more "Steampunk-ish". Another winning set of products from the guys at Couture Creations.

Thanks for having a look at my project and I hope you will join me again soon with my second project as Guest Designer later this month.