Paper Bead Butterfly Tutorial

Good morning! Well, here I am up early way before the kids on the school holidays. Ususally on the school holidays I sleep in til they get up, but this is the only way I get a bit of quiet "me" time. Ahhh...so peaceful.

Anyhoo, here's that little tutorial I promised. Now you'll have to excuse my kind of blurry photos, as I took them at night as I was making this little butterfly, but you'll get the idea...


First of all you cut a little strip of paper, as wide as you'd like the butterfly's body to be. This little one is about 2cm, but you can make it a bit wider for a slightly bigger bead. The length of this piece is around 12cm, but you can cut it longer...it will just make a "fatter" bead. Cut your strip into a triangular shape, and then start to roll it from the wider end, making sure you keep it fairly tight.

Once you've rolled it up, glue that last little pointed bit down, and you've got your bead...now wasn't that easy!


Next up you need to make some wings. I cut out a couple of little hearts from patterned paper, or you could use a punch.


Overlap your hearts and glue down your bead and voila! It looks like a butterfly!



Now all you need to do is make some antennae to finish it off. Don't look too closely at mine though, they are kind of dodgy! I just freehand cut the antennae shape (can't you tell?), but you could put a bit of rolled wire or anything there to finish that part off.


For the wings, instead of using hearts, you can also use flowers, just cut the petals into a wing shape, like I did with this one here. This is from a layout that I did at the start of the year. You can see how I've used a much wider piece of paper to make a bigger body for the butterfly...


Well, I hope you liked my little tutorial, and have fun making lots of paper bead butterflies! I've popped links to my other tutorials in my sidebar too, if you're ever looking for them later on.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great day :)

Fancy Pants Layout

Good morning!! I can't believe I'm up and blogging before 7am, but the kids are still asleep so I'd better make the most of my quiet time. I just wanted to pop this layout that I finished yesterday on here. I used 4 different Fancy Pants ranges on this page - Dancing Girl, Roadshow, Splendid and Little Sprout. I think they go together pretty well, and I even put a few Purple Pumpkin buttons on there as well...



I have been hoarding that glitter cut and the paper with the little critters on for ages, so it was good to actually use them! How cute is that little monkey?


I made heaps of paper embellies for this page, it took ages, but so much fun!


And a little paper bead butterfly, haven't made one of those for a while!


Actually, I've made a little tutorial for the paper bead butterfly, which I will put on here in the next day or 2. They are so easy and fun to make. Emily wants to make a necklace out of those beads, so I might even put her creation on here too. She's so funny, she always wants me to put her drawings and "artworks" on my blog. Might have to let her start a blog of her own!

Hope you have a great Tuesday!!

Imaginisce Apple Cider Layout

Happy Monday! We're into the second week of the school holidays here, and it's just going way too fast. We stayed down in Ipswich for a few days last week, and then brought my niece back up here, so Emily has been in heaven, getting to spend lots of time with her cousin. I have taken so many cute photos, that I just can't wait to scrap! I'm planning to try and do some more double page layouts, and here's one I did recently with the Imaginisce Apple Cider range...


Arrgh! It always looks so tiny when I put a 2 pager on here!


So here's each page on it's own. Please excuse my crooked photos!



I used the I-Rock and the little flourish template to make these flourishes here, and the I-Top to make those cute little brads in the centre of the flowers...


And the chipboard title is from A2Z Scraplets. Just love those chippie titles!

Well, I'm off to do some housework, and hopefully some more scrapping. Hope you have a great week!

Kaisercraft Leaf Album with Imaginisce DinoRoar!

Hi everyone :) :) You know how much I love the new Imaginisce range Dino-Roar, well, I really wanted to do a mini album, but couldn't find the photos that I had wanted to use (story of my life! Can never find the right photos!!) Well, anyway, I was racking my brain, trying to think of what I could do, and then then I had that little lightbulb moment, and thought "Dino Joke Book!" Jack is crazy about jokes, and looooves dinosaurs, so this was perfect!



I used the Kaisercraft Leaf Mini Album for this, and it was the perfect size. And those leaves around the bottom were cut using a cute set of cuttlebug leaf dies.



Well, the front cover is all I can show you at the moment, because I need some more ink for my printer before I can start printing out these dino jokes. And omgosh, Jack is so excited about this, and keeps coming up with new dino jokes we can add to his book (and they are the lamest jokes I've ever heard, but he and Em are in stitches over them, lol)

If you want to see LOADS more ideas for using the DinoRoar range, make sure you head over to the Imaginisce Blog. Lots of giveaways happening over there at the moment too, so you might even win a prize :)

Hope you are having a great day!

Now This Was A Challenge...

You know what my layouts are usually like...3 or 4 or 5 patterned papers, lots of embellishments, usually a bit of fussy cutting to make it all look nice and lumpy bumpy and layered. Well, you can probably imagine what I thought when I got a challenge to do a layout using ONLY these things - 1 sheet of shaped paper (and that was the ONLY bit of paper I could use for the whole thing!!!),2 ribbons, 3 alphabets, 2 chipboard pieces, staples, masking tape and string .

This was the recipe challenge that I took part in for the latest issue of Scrapbooking Memories Magazine. When I read what I had to do, I was like - What The? Only 1 sheet of paper??? Masking tape????

Well, after lots of thinking about it, I finally came up with this...


I couldn't seem to get a good pic of this one, my white background kept coming up bluish, but you get the idea. See the flower I made out of the masking tape? Thought I was pretty clever doing that, lol. You can see what the other 3 scrappers did with this challenge on pg92 of this months SBM (vol 12 no 10).

Well, I think that's about all the computer time I can sneak in at the moment. I've promised to read the kids 2 chapters of their book tonight, instead of 1, so I'd better go and have a cup of tea and prepare myself. Lol, I miss those days when I could skip whole paragraphs and they were none the wiser. These days, they follow the words as I'm reading, and always pick me up on it if I skip bits!!!

Hope you are having a great week :)

Crate Paper Layout

Happy Monday! Normally I'm not a fan of Monday's, but they are perfectly acceptable when the kids are on holidays. Even if it's rainy and the kids are snuffly. No sleep in this morning though, because both kids were up by 6am because they were feeling sick. So once I sorted them out, and got them snuggled up on the couch with a movie, I sat at the kitchen table and did this...


I used some new Crate Paper Restoration goodies that I got at Blossies a couple of weeks ago. And of course I had to add a Purple Pumpkin Little Birdie button...


See that cute little cupcake button? It's from MLBOW. I thought it went pretty well on here, seeing as the title is Sweet You :) And the flower spray is one I got from D-Lish Scraps a little while ago. I have been hoarding it, but finally decided to use it on here ...


Well, that's all I've got time for at the moment. Em is nagging me that she's got "Flushed Away" ready to go in the dvd player, and that she won't watch it till I'm sitting with her.

Hope you are having a great day!!

Another Imaginisce Dino-Roar Layout...

Well, it's the end of another weekend already. Luckily it's school holidays so we can sleep in tomorrow. Wouldn't you know it though - start of the school hols and the kids are sick. Jack asked to go to bed just after 6pm, and Em wasn't too far behind. And it's raining. Typical, huh? I feel like I'm coming down with it too, so I think I'll be getting a bit of an early one tonight as well :(

Anyhoo, I was planning to have this layout finished the other day, but it took me a little bit longer than I thought to get it done. I did a page like this last year for Emily, which was very pink and flowery, with butterflies etc, so when I first laid my eyes on the Dino-Roar range from Imaginisce, I just knew I had to do one for Jack too. And let me just say that he is THRILLED with this layout! He wanted me to call it DINO KING, lol, but it didn't look right, so Dino Boy it is...


And of course it wouldn't be me without a close up or 2...


How CUTE are those dinosaur stickers?


It's certainly not my typical layout, but it was a lot of fun to do, and my boy loves it, which is the main thing :)

Well, before I go, I just wanted to share this gorgeous card with you, that I got in the mail the other day...


It was such a nice surprise to receive it, and really brought a smile to my face. Thanks Tracie!! If you want to see more fabulous cards like this one, make sure you go have a look at Tracies blog HERE.

Ok, well that's all from me for tonight. Hope you have a great week :)

Imaginisce Dino-Roar!!

A couple of weeks ago, I got an awesome box full of goodies from Imaginisce. And in that box was the super cute new collection - Dino-Roar! It is THE most awesome boys range, the colours are great, but the best thing of all, is that it is dinosaur themed. It couldn't be more perfect for my dino mad boy! Here's the first layout I scrapped using this range...


I started out doing this layout for the A2Z sketch challenge, but it turned out a bit different to what I had planned! I kept this layout pretty simple, but added interest and texture by embossing some of the papers with my cuttlebug. And see that green strip of paper? That's actually part of the packaging. That went through the cuttlebug too, and those circle outlines were cut using a cuttlebug cutting die. It's my new favourite, and one I think I'll be using heaps. Here's a bit of a close up so you can see the embossed bits better...


And check out the I-Top brad I made. Cute huh? One of the papers has the cutest little dinosaurs on it, perfect for cutting out, or for topping brads with. You can have a look at the full range of Dino-Roar products HERE :)

I'll be back tomorrow with another Dino-Roar layout. Hope you've been having a great week!

Fancy Pants Like Father Like Son Layout

You know what? I was thinking that it was 2 weeks until the school holidays, but it's only 1 week!!! I can't believe it's only another 4 days of school til they're home every day for 2 weeks. I can't wait, especially because it's heating up now and will be perfect beach weather :)

So...remember that child free night I had on Saturday? Well, I got a couple of layouts finished, and here's one I can show you...


This is for a challenge at Challenge Heaven, and the challenge was to use the word "Heart" in your title, and 2 different alphas. So here's my 2 different alphas...


And the word "Heart"...



I used Fancy Pants Like Father Like Son papers for this, and a cute little MLBOW mushroom. And of course there's a Purple Pumpkin button on there ;)

Well, I spose I should go and do something productive. I tell ya...sitting on this computer is like going into a time warp. I just waste too much time on here, so I'm trying to limit myself to just doing what I have to do on here and then getting off! I might be back tomorrow with another scrappy share. See you then!

Scrapping & Stuff

Another weekend. I love Saturday mornings when we get to sleep in and have a late brekkie. It's 11am and the 3 of us are still in our pj's, watching cartoons. Love it!! I was planning on having a really late one last night, but by 11pm I was so tired I could hardly keep my eyes open, so all I got done with this page, using Fancy Pants Vintage Valentine...





These photos are soooo Jack and Emily. They were taken at their favourite hangout, Australia Zoo. We haven't been there for a few weeks, but with the school hols coming up, I'm sure we'll be spending lots of days there. I'm surprised they aren't sick of it yet!

And here's over the what we've been up to in last week or 2. Mum and Dad got to visit with the kids at school, and the kids absolutely loved having them there...




Was there really any point in me telling Em NOT to go in the water while we waited for Poppy at the boat ramp?


Out in the boat with Pop, one of the kids favourite things about living here. Of course, everything we catch goes back into the water :)

Believe it or not, this pair have actually been playing together without fighting all the time! They are both crazy about drawing at the moment, and spent a whole morning working on this masterpiece, which they have now added to, covered with gladwrap, and hung above the bath in their bathroom, so they can look at it while they are in the bath...


And of course we are still loving our walks along the beach with Daisy at sunset...



Well, I've got mum and dad coming over for dinner tonight, and then the kids are going back to their place for a sleep over, so I'd better go and get organised. I've watched Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3 TIMES in the last 24 hours, so I am very much looking forward to watching something I want to watch on tv tonight while I scrap!!!

Hope you are having a great weekend!

I'm Still Here!

Yes, I'm still here, just been buried under a pile of buttons and flowers, lol. Purple Pumpkin has taken off more than I ever dreamed it would, and I am loving every minute of it. And because my mum does it with me too, it means I get to hang out with her heaps :) I've still been busy scrapping too, (of course!) and have loads of pages to photograph. I've been trying to do a few more cards too, but hmmm....might need a little more practice with those! Here's a layout I did of Em looking cute in her hat. I took so many photos that morning, but I loved them all, so I just keep on scrapping them!




The chipboard title is from A2Z Scraplets, and it sums up my girl perfectly :) This next one's got some A2Z Chippie on it too, I just love this font...!


Took lots of close ups of this one!





I really wish Jack would let me get some more photos of him, I feel a bit mean scrapping Em all the time! I did get a few good ones of him the other day though, so I think I might have to get them printed out real soon.

Hope you're having a great week!