Join in and get featured !!

If you are inspired to create something using a tutorial, tip or technique that is featured here please leave a link to your creation on the relevent post so we can all visit your blog to see what you have made

Please note I will be selecting some creations to feature here so by leaving a link to your artwork you are giving your permission, I will of course always link back to your blog or website

Please also take the time to visit our wonderful Contributors to show that they are appreciated. You will find links to their sites in their individual posts.

If you have any recommendations for this blog please let me know, I am always open to new ideas and appreciate all input

Julie x

Faux Frosting

Adding frosting to your cupcakes is always yummy! But adding them to your cupcakes on cards is even yummier! Here’s a quick tutorial on how to add faux frosting to your cards or scrapbooks. This frosting can also be used for snow on your winter projects as well.Hope you enjoy!Don't forget to visit my blog for other great goodies!

Fold out Book

Well its been awhile but I have another article for you -

Pretty huh? But the real magic is how it works inside with all its fold out sections -

So, here's how to make one for yourself -

Card cut into the following dimensions –

1. 21cm x 30cm folded in half to create the main card section. (we’ll call it section A)

2. 20cm x 28cm folded in half to create section B

3. 13cm x 28cm folded in half to create section C

4. 13cm x 24cm folded in half to create section D

5. 12cm x 22cm folded in half to create section E

6. 10cm x 22cm folded in half to create section F

To assemble –

1. Open section A and adhere section B to the centre of the right side, ensuring it opens to the left.

2. Open section B and adhere section C to the centre of the right side as well, ensuring it open upwards.

3. Open section C and adhere section D to the centre of the bottom side, ensuring it opens to the right this time.

4. Open section D and adhere section E to the centre of the left side, ensuring it opens to the left.

5. Finally, open section E and adhere section F to the centre of the right side, ensuring it opens downwards.

6. Decorate as desired. I chose to use patterned paper to coat most sides of my pages in addition to cutting photo mats from the leftover card to adhere to different pages ready for my photos. I also attached a strip of ribbon below the patterned paper covering the cover to tie my book closed.

A little plea....

I have just received an email warning me that the bandwidth on my Photobucket account is close to being exceeded

This is because so many of you lovely people are displaying the Inspirational banners on your blogs ~ Thank you x

I wondered if you'd be kind enough to upload the banner onto your own Photobucket account/image hosting site otherwise the banners will stop working. It will simply be a case of uploading the Inspirational banner to your photobucket and then replacing my photobucket code with yours

If you don't know how to do this, lets not panic...... I'm hoping that those that do know how to do it will outweigh the ones that don't lol

Lets see how we go

Thanks once again for you all your support for the Inspirational Blogs

Julie x

TWEET TWEET!

Ready to make your own little Birdie?

The birdies (and owls) are the flavour of the month in scrapbooking at the moment as we follow the trends in fashion and interior design.I have used the Upsy Daisy Designs papers titled "TWEET" for my altered project and layout.

Step One:Draw three tear drop shapes onto spare card and cut these out as "templates".OR click HERE

for my own template of this birdie to appear.
Simply print it out and you will then have a template ready for this project.Place this template down on your chosen paper and cut out the shapes, then ink softly all around the edges of each shape.

Step Two:Once you have inked all the edges, Cut into the bottom portion of each wing several strips in order to make it look like feathers. Adhere the larger tear drop shapes wing to the main body of the birdie.

Step Three:Apply mounting tape or squares to the underside of the smaller tear drop shaped wing and adhere over the top of the first tear drop shapes wing.Use the end of a pencil or paintbrush as a means of curling the wingtip feathers.

Step Four:Cut two small triangles out of scrap card and ink the edges. Adhere to the underside of the bird's face, each triangle slightly overlapping each other.Add an eye by either drawing a dot on the bird or attaching a jewel.

Voila! One completed birdie.Have fun and happy scrapping girls!

Sares x

PS: Visit my Blog Leonardo's Apprentice for heaps of other Tips and Techniques to use in your scrapping!

Quilted bowl tutorial

Hello everyone,

My name is Geta and I am a passionate quilter living in Romania. Unfortunately, here quilting is an unknown craft for most of the people.
Thank you, Julie, for giving me the chance to be a contributor here.

You can see a few quilting tutorials on my blog.
Now, I want to share with you a tutorial for a quilted bowl. This is my first attempt:

The bowl measures 13 inches from a point to the opposite point.

I used these templates:

Download templates here (this is a "pdf" file; you will need Adobe Reader to open it- download it here - it is free).
After you print and cut the templates, check out that the bottom side of the "A" piece has the same size as the side of the hexagon .

Make six "A" pieces and one "B" piece. I made these pieces from quilted fabric.

Make a sandwich from a piece of fabric, batting and backing.

Iron a heavy weight fusible interfacing on the backing fabric to get stiff pieces.
Quilt the sandwich as desired.

You can use appliques, trapunto, shadow trapunto or quilted motifs to embellish each piece.

After the quilting is complete, cut the pieces and satin stitch around all edges.
Use a nice backing fabric because the back of the bowl will be visible.

Below is the front and the back of a piece:

Sew the bottom sides of the "A" panels to the sides of the "B" center piece, following this succession:

Use a wide zigzag stitch and be sure you catch the both edges. Backstitch at the beginning and the ending of each seam.

This is how it looks after I stitched all the pieces around the hexagons:

The stitches on the back:

Next, to form the bowl, you have to sew the sides between 2 pieces. Use a satin stitch or a close zig-zag stitch and make it wide enough to catch both sides. Start from the center, take a few stitches then backstitch. Continue to sew and pull the sides together as you sew, so they meet. Sew over them; it's very easy.
Do this for all the sides.

After you completed all the stitches, you will have a bowl like this:


The back of the bowl:

And the funny part: the bowl is reversible !

If you want to make your own templates, be sure the bottom side of the "A" piece has the same size as the side of the hexagon :
and you must have some distance between two "A" pieces :

Happy sewing !

Men's Shirt Card Tutorial

Sometimes I do more than quilling..........sometimes. I wanted to share a tutorial on a men's shirt card I created. It is for the upcoming card swap at Anne's studio. I placed more photos at the end of the tutorial so you could see all four different shirt patterns. Enjoy!

Men's Shirt Card Tutorial

Don't forget to sneak a peek at my BLOG for other great things!