Cathy Lane : MajaDesign

My Molly

20 April, 2013 - Layouts, Tutorials, Vintage Summer Basics

Hello friends !! I have another project to share with you today and I so loved the way this one turned out. The little lady in the photos is my little Pekingese Miss Molly. Here is a close-up of the flowers I made using Vicky Alberto’s tutorial for her “Versatile Flowers”. They are so cute and easy to make. Thank you Vicky!
And here is a close-up of the little beaded flowers I made and there is a tutorial for you if you would like to give them a try. I call them my “Beaded delphiniums” They look cute if you make them in blue because then they really do look like Delphiniums at a glance. I also know that Delphiniums do not hang down, they actually stand up straight but in the scrapping world anything is possible right? The little white fern you see peeking out there is punched and then I just used the negative as a mask and sponged some gesso on it.
I used papers from the bautiful Vintage Summer Basics Collection:

Vintage Summer Basics – 1922

Vintage Summer Basics – 1904 BS

Vintage Summer Basics – 1933 BS
For inspiartion I used a sketch from Scrap Friends.
The big leafy fern is a chippie from Imaginarium Designs and again I just sponged some gesso on it.
Here is the promised tutorial if you would like to give it a try.

Materials needed:
Wire
Florists tape
Glue Gun
Wire Cutter
Seed beads in the colour of your choice
Step 1.
Cut a few pieces of wire in different lengths.
Step 2.
You now have to work relatively fast as hot glue dries very quickly. Heat up the glue gun. Take one strand of wire and adhere hot glue to one end of the strand. It looks very “blobby”, but don’t worry about that. I covered about 3.5cm with hot glue.
Step 3.
While the glue is still hot, dip it into your little bowl of seed beads and twirl it around so the beads can cover all the glue.
Step 4.
Whilst the glue is still warm, press the beads firmly into the glue using your fingers. If you find that not all the spots are covered, you can always just add an extra little bit of glue on those spots and then dip it back into the bowl of beads.
Step 5.
Gently remove any excess loose beads and this is what it should look like when it’s nicely covered.
Step 6.
Now you can take a strip of florists tape and start winding it around the wire starting close up against the beads, working your way down.
And this what they look like when they are all finished and ready to “prettify” your page. I hope you like them as much as I do!
And that my sweet friends, is all from me today. I have the flu, so I’m going straight back to bed and no doubt Miss Molly is going to join me! LOL! Till next week…happy scrapping!x

Up Close And Personal

Posted by Cathy Lane

13 April, 2013 - Layouts, Tutorials, Walking in the Forest

Write a comment

Hi everyone!!
I’ve been wanting to scrap this photo for over a year but just couldn’t find that “perfect” paper until I saw Maja’s “Walking In The Forest” collection. The photo was taken on one of the very rare ocassions that I go away for a weekend. Getting this close to an elephant was to say the least an amazing experience. One of the very few regrets I have in life is that I didn’t follow my dream of becoming a Wildlife Conservationist and if I could have my life over again, that is what I would do.:) Oh well, back to scrapping…lol!! Here is a close-up of the little pine cones I made which I tucked between the flowers and I also did a little tutorial on how to make them for those who would like to give it a try.
And here is how to make them:
You will need very basic materials:

Tan cardstock
Glue
Decorative scissors (scallops)
Walnut stain distress ink
Scissors
Stylus

Step 1.
Use a pencil and draw a spiral on the wrong side of your cardstock measuring approx. 7.5cm in diameter. I drew the spiral free hand as I don’t know of any other way to do it.

Step 2.
Use your decorative scalloped scissors and cut out the spiral all along the pencil lines.

Step 3.
Turn the spiral over to the right side and ink the scalloped edges of the spiral with Walnut Stain distress ink.

Step 4
Use your small scissors and make a small snit a little more than half way between every scallop.

Step 5.
Turn your spiral over to the wrong side again, place it on a mousepad or any foam pad and roll the entire spiral with your styles, especially the pinecone petals, and you will find that your spiral starts curling. Don’t worry about the pencil marks as they will not show once your little cone has been completed. This picture does not do justice to how you need to press down on the spiral and roll at the same time as it is pretty hard to do that with a camera in the left hand and a stylus in your right hand but I’m sure you get the idea. The down side of being alone at home most of the time is that you have nobody to take the photo when you need both hands…lol!

This is what your spiral kind of looks like once you have finished the step with the stylus.
Step 6.
Now we need to start rolling this spiral. So, with the right side of the spial facing you, grab a thin paintbrush or knitting needle and secure the tip of the spiral to the spiral with some glue. I use a knitting needle and please ignore the “used” look of it…it works hard especially when I use it to work with wire..lol!

Step 7.
Start rolling the spiral and at the same time put a few blobs of glue at intervals along the bottom edge to secure the spiral. Roll the spiral round and round and with each twirl roll it slightly downwards so that with each turn your petals will be below the prevoius layer of petal. You don’t want it to become a flower. By the way, this method makes the cutest little flowers too. Once you have done a few turns, remove the knitting needle or whatever it is that you are using and turn it with your fingers….much easier and you have more control.

Keep rolling around and downwards and don’t forget the little blobs of glue at intervals and it should start looking like the one in the pictures below.

Step 8.
When you get to the end, put a good blob of glue in the centre to secure the bottom edge of the spiral to the bottom of your little cone. Oops, it looks like I put too much glue on but it worked out well in the end. Press the end of the spiral firmly against the bottom of your cone and leave it until the glue is dry.

It should now look similar like the one in the picture below which is a sideview of the cone
And here is a picture of what your cone should look like at the bottom.
Step 9.
Once the glue is dry you can now take a pair of tweezers or something and just gently start folding each little petal slightly outwards.

And this is what your little cones will look like when they are finished. I hope you like them 🙂

For this layout I used the following:
Walking In The Forest – Autum In The Air
Walking In The Forest – Autumn In The Air BS
Walking In The Forest – Flannel Shirt
Walking In The Forest – Knitted Sweater
Walking In The Forest – Die Cut Sheet

The border below the photo was cut with Spellbinders Shapeabilities Elegant Posts.
The stamp I used in the four corners of the layout is from Impressive Impressions Butterfly Swish.
The leaves between the flowers were stamped with some no-name brand stamp and I just cut them out and coloured them with distress inks and drew the little veins by hand with a Zig marker.
I made the little twiggy vine and just attached some beads to the ends.

And with that my friends, I am going to love and leave you!! Have a happy day!!

A Little Ray Of Sunshine

Posted by Cathy Lane

6 April, 2013 - Layouts, Vintage Spring Basics

Write a comment

Hi there friends! I am so honored to be part of the creative team for the month of April and so lucky and privileged to be able to work and create with such amazingly beautiful papers. How can one possibly not be inspired by the soft, subtle hues in the Vintage Spring Basics collection? I love every single sheet of paper and each one is as gorgeous as the next one.

This is a layout I created for my darling little niece’s album, another one of many and many more to come. She truly is my inspiration and a little ray of sunshine in every sense of the word.

For this layout I used only papers from the Vintage Spring Basics Collection.

Vintage Spring Basics – 1st of March
Vintage Spring Basics – 2nd of April BS
Vintage Spring Basics – 7th of April
Vintage Spring Basics – 7th of April BS

For the background I used Vintage Spring Basics 1st of March. For the first circular layer I used the BS of Vintage Spring Basics 2nd of April. I cut a circle into the background which I then used as the second circular layer and matted both circles on brown cardstock and hand-stitched and stamped around the edges. I used the cut-off strips (which are sooo pretty and useful), matted them on some of the yellow paper and attached them to the top of the layout, folded them over the edge of the page and adhered them to the back of the layout..

The two flag strips were made with the front and the back of the Vintage Spring Basics 7th of April and matted on brown cardstock. I also used a die to cut the white ornamental border.

I also used a die to cut the little window and adhered it to a piece of frosted transparency which I treated with a drop of yellow alcohol ink in order to create the illusion of sunshine coming through the window. I then decorated it with a little bling from Flourish With A Bling.

I die-cut two ornamental circles and adhered the clocks to the circles and stitched around the edges.

The big yellow flower, the two white and yellow roses and the vine are handmade.

The butterflies were cut from white cardstock and inked and dotted. I am so sorry but I really cannot remember which dies I have used on this layout. I buy the dies, stick them into my file and throw the packaging away. I have the same issue with stamps. I wish I had some special techniques to share with you today, but my layouts are pretty straight forward, basic and uncomplicated.

I hope you like this one and thanks so much for looking.

Till next time… warm hugs to you all the way from South Africa xx