DISTRESS PAINT

Have you seen that Rangers Distress Paint has arrived at the shop?

So, whats it all about????

The paint is in the distress range palette and comes in dauber sized bottles, it is a lot "wetter" than the thick acrylic paint in the daubers and needs a good shake before use.  Use it like your stains and add water then swish paper products, ie tags, through the mix, whilst wet add other fluids to activate the "distress" look - once the paint is dry it then becomes water proof and no amount of spritizing or dropping water onto your product will make a difference.... one note of caution - these paints do have a slight "aroma" so ventilation might be necessary!

I have taken the paints:- broken china, seedless preserves and pickled raspberry and put them onto a craft mat then spritzed with water, taking a size 8 tag I've swiped it thro' the paint

The way the paint reacts with the water is clearly visible here.....I think it gives a flat piece so much depth.  One other thing about these paints is the texture when dry, its slightly coarse to the touch....

Taking some chipboard pieces I've swished them thro' the paint mixture too....and then stamped, doodled and then added glossy accents and crackle glaze:-

the butterflies and flowers have had a coating of rangers rock candy distress stickles added, the arrow has glossy accents and the inchies are as is...

together I've made this:-

prima bling has been added to the middle of the flowers and a prima text stamp has been used around the edges.

I did decide to have a go at colouring the ribbon - I used the same paints and added them to my craft mat as previously - this is not for the faint hearted as it was exceptionally messy! lol - the result was a lovely coloured ribbon, but, it is very coarse and "solid" perhaps more water might have helped?? 

Take a look at the paints here and have a play....

TFL, Carol

Project Life with MME and some Photo Tips

Hi, it's Lisa here today with some Project Life pages.

I've been sticking to my relaxed take on PL and have been enjoying documenting our every day lives.
I've been using instagram to take various photos. I love how the photos are captured and how they look through instagram.
I've used some My Minds Eye - Collectable on these pages.

These journal cards make the Project Life pages very easy to make.

I've added a few little extra pieces like a doliee, pins and some twine.
It's also a great way to use up alpha stickers.
I'm finding my corner punch is being very well used too. I love those rounded corners on these pages.

I would also like to talk more about the photo printing and editing.
I've been asked a few times now how to print off instagram. I used my pc and by following the instructions on this site here you can down load your instagram photos and save to your pc. You can then print them off yourself in any size you want.
If you don't use instagram but would still like to edit your photos and add fancy frames then I really recommend this site here. Picmonkey.
Both are free to use.

I hope you find this useful.
Thanks for stopping by.
lisa x

April's kit

Our April monthly kit has gone on the website and is now available to buy.  Take a closer look at it...

It has 6 double-sided papers in it, plus a range of beautiful embellishments.  Here you can see one side of the papers...

...and if you turn them over, the reverse sides look like this...

The embellishments that come with this kit are lovely - a mixture of Maya Road, Prima, My Minds Eye and more...

As usual, we have a co-ordinating cardstock pack available too  - you can find them both here on the website :)

The full contents are:
MME Collectable Love This Adore
Crate Paper DIY Shop Details
Crate Paper DIY Shop Measurements
Crate Paper Party Day Celebrate
Crate Paper Party Day Surprise
Prima Sunrise-Sunset Aperture
MME Collectable Authentic Journal Card
MME Collectable Smile Journal Card
2x Maya Road Kraft Journaling Tags
1x vintage bookplate
12" hemp string
3x Prima Engraver Butterflies
3x Prima wooden buttons
1x Petaloo flower
2x Maya Road butterfly pins

April's crop kit

Our monthly crop is a week earlier than normal this month, although it's been four weeks since the last one, so it hasn't come round any quicker than usual!  And a little reminder that next month's will also be on the second Saturday, the 11th of May. 

This month I've used BasicGrey Serenade papers, mainly with one of our exclusive Papermaze masks :)  There's some stamping too, and even a little bit of stitching!  If you fancy joining us, the crop lasts from 10am til 5pm - just drop me an email. 

New Prima and Tracee's Sketch

Hi Everyone, Lou here today to show you my take on Tracee's sketch from this post using the new Prima Engraver papers which can be found on the website here

So here it is. I flipped the sketch and altered the elements slightly. These Engraver papers can be dark, but there are also plenty of lighter ones in the collection to brighten things up :-)

I have also used Prima Engraver Mini Swirls and Prima Junkyard Findings - Jeans Buttons

Egg hunt answers!

A big thank you to everyone who took part in our Easter Egg hunt this year - and thanks for all your lovely comments too :)  I've just been reading all your emails and it seems I enjoy putting it all together as much as you enjoy hunting out the eggs! 

Anyway, let's get on to the answers!

Day 1 :
Zeus punished which Titan by making him carry the world on his back?
Atlas - by Prima

Day 2:
 Koalas eat the leaves of which plant almost exclusively?
Eucalyptus - Ranger Stickles

Day 3:
This was a 1982 hit for Fat Larry's Band, reaching number 2 in the UK charts.
Zoom - by Echo Park

Day 4 (picture):
Daffodil - Ranger Liquid Pearls

Day 5 (map):
Capri - by BasicGrey

Day 6:
This Italian sauce traditionally consists of basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan cheese and olive oil.
Pesto - Alcohol Ink

Day 7:
What was Dougal's favourite food?
Sugar Cubes - by Cosmo Cricket

So, having read all your emails, I put all the correct answers in a hat and the winner of the £25 gift voucher is Tracey Boland!!  Congratulations Tracey, we'll get your voucher emailed to you this week :)
And of course we have 3 runners-up, who all get a 6x6 pad - and they are
Emma Fisk
Gina Nathan
Anna Parker
Congratulations ladies - drop me an email with your address and we can get your prize sorted out :)

Thanks again to everyone for taking part!

Sketch time with Tracee

Hi , I hope everyone had a great Easter, we spent Easter down by the seaside in Brixham, the whole family complete chaos (that nice chaos tho)
Got to play with some great goodies by Crate Paper this month, from the Party Day range and chose a sketch from Page Drafts to work with
Whilst these papers are Birthday themed there is enough neutral patterns to create a layout with any theme you like
My little Granddaughter got new glasses last year and I realised that I haven't scrapped about that yet so I chose a picture of her wearing them, before she had even got on the bus to go home

 

I used the reverse side of this sheet for my background

 

My photo mat was cut from this sheet along with the banners

 

one really great thing about this sheet is the reverse side matches, so if you cut a tag, for instance, from one side it will be a tag of a different colour on the reverse. Hope that makes sense

Crate also brought out some 12 by 12 washi paper that you can cut into strips which I used behind my photo and also to cover one of my chipboard speech bubbles with, it's fab that you get lots of different patterns and don't have a whole reel of just one that you can sometimes be left wondering what to do with it.

Here is the sketch I used, if you want to play along we would love to see what you create. Leave a link in the comments box and we will check it out

Tracee x

Other supplies used include

 

 

 

Don't forget to keep an eye out for the Winner of our Easter Egg hunt being announced this weekend!

Mini Cards

I always have that feeling that I have to make my own cards. Sometimes it does feel like a chore I have to admit.
I try to keep on top of the card making by making a few at a time. I like to keep them simple and I like to keep them quite small.
I made these a few days go as an example to show you.

The card blanks are just 4x3''. This makes it easier and quicker as there is less card to design.
With all the Project Life stuff out there right now this makes card making rather simple.
Each card here has been used wityh the same design in mind.

4x3'' White cardblank
Small piece of scrap paper (I've used leftovers from MME Collectable)     
A small journal card
A couple of bits to embellish
All my greetings have been printed on my pc and cut down to strips.

There are so many 12x12 papers now that have 12 little journal cards on them. I've been using them to make mini books, for Project Life and they are great for cards too like this one here.
Here is the paper that I used.
A little misting, a piece of twine and some little pearls and that card is made.

 

And the same again. Using a corner punch makes such a difference.

I've used an Elle's Studio journal card this time, a little twine and pearls and finished with this Maya Road Pin.

And lastly I made this one with a MME Journal card. I love those butterflies. There are so many of these little journal cards to choose from here. I love using these so much that I often buy 2 of each as I love using them for so many different projects.

I hope you like my mini cards.
Thanks for stopping by today.
Lisa x