Monday, August 29, 2016

A Sneak Peek into My Craft Room

Over on the Kaisercraft Blog today some of the Design Team are sharing their crafting spaces. I have shared my crafting space recently (well maybe a few months ago now) when we had just moved to the current house we are living at. So these photos aren't new to my blog. I'm actually a believer that you can make awesome crafty projects without having an amazing craft room, however, I also believe it is easier to craft if you don't have to search for crafty materials while you are crafting and you are more likely to craft if you don't have to pack everything away. My craft room is really a work in progress and Nicky and I share the space. He plays lego on two tables and all over the floor and I craft at my desk. It works well for us. We love our time in the craft room together. I try and spend a little bit of time in their everyday to stay on top of my DT commitments. Keeping the room clean is a total challenge : )

Storage Shelf

The first photo above is a picture of my Storage Shelf. At the top of this little unit that sits on my desk I am storing my Kaisercolour Colouring Books and Gel Pens. On the first shelf I have little jars filled with Kaisercraft Wood Flourishes. On the second shelf some larger jars filled with Kaisercraft Paper Blooms. The next two rows I have my Kaisermists and Kaisercraft glues. At the bottom is a reel for some coloured twine.

Ribbon Rack

Next to this unit on my desk I have a ribbon rack. At the very top I keep all of my Kaisercraft Pearls, Rhinestones and Epoxy Stickers all neatly stacked into a plastic container. On the top reel I have my Kaisercraft Glitter Tapes, Printed Tapes and Natural Twine. On the subsequent rows I have my Kaisercraft Organza Ribbons.

Large Desk Organisers

Because I am such a messy crafter I was really needing some sort of storage option for Kaisercraft's two collections each month. Piles of papers, stamps and collectables piling up on my desk was not leaving a lot of space for crafting and piles on the floor was not leaving a lot of space for walking lol! I was chatting to Trudy at my local Kaisercraft store in Robina and she suggested the Beyond the Page - Large Desk Organiser. This has turned out to be the perfect storage solution for me and my two Kaisercraft collections for each month. I purchased two Large Desk Organisers, one for each collection. In the photo above they are filled with products from the April collections; Cottage Rose and Sea Breeze. The back shelf is perfect for all the 12x12 papers and stickers. The little shelves in the middle can hold the Paper Pads, Stamp Sets and matching Embossing Folders. The three little drawers and one large drawer are perfect for holding collectables and off-cuts. Every month I pack the old collections away and set up the new collections in the Large Desk Organisers. Then I have everything ready to go and at my fingertips.

Die Storage

The Kaisercraft Multipurpose Box is the perfect size for storing my dies. I attach them to the magnets provided in the Kaisercraft packaging. This allows me to easily flip through them to find the die I am looking for. I use the dividers that came with the box to separate the dies into the Kaisercraft categories; Decorative Dies, Decorative Die Words, Card Creation Dies and Dies with matching Stamps.

I hope you have enjoyed a few peeks into my craft room (again) : )

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Quick Ten Male Cards - Kaisercraft Barber Shoppe

Kaisercraft Barber Shoppe Quick Ten male Birthday Cards by Alicia McNamara

Its been awhile since I have whipped up a set of Quick Ten cards. But I was certainly in need of some male cards this month and because I had the Kaisercraft Barber Shoppe Collection on my desk I thought it was the perfect opportunity to make some Male Birthday cards. Whenever I make a set of Quick 10 Cards I usually try and stick to the same sketch for each card and just change up the papers and embellishments.

I didn't photograph every single one...they were quickly popped into envelopes and sent in the mail. All the males on my birthday list this month received one of these cards! I still have a few leftover for my card stash. I need to do another Quick Ten Female Happy Birthdays for September, maybe I'll get the chance soon.
Thanks for stopping by,

Friday, August 26, 2016

Kaisercraft Barber Shoppe Father's Day Cards

I've made four Father's Day cards in preparation for Father's Day using the new Kaisercraft Collection "Barber Shoppe". I used a variety of different letter stickers and chipboard to create the sentiments and embellished with the Gentleman Flourish Pack. The little moustaches are my favourite!

Kaisercraft Barber Shoppe Father's Day Card by Alicia McNamara

All the Dad's in my life are getting Darrell Lea "Dad Bags" again this year, except for Ben who has requested After Shave. Father's Day in Australia is next weekend so these cards will all need to be posted off this week. I'm on the count down now for the baby to be born...five days to go!! Thanks for stopping by,

Kaisercraft Products: PP1002 Paper Pad | CS269 Clear Stamps | SS318 Sticker Sheet | CT861 Collectables | KM101 Kaiser Mist - Charcoal | PT212 Printed Tape - Arrows | IP719 Ink Pad - Black | FL579 Flourish Pack - Gentleman | LDB1042 Burlap Roll 1 inch | CB108 Chipboard Alpha 2 | DD747 Decorative Die - Circle Scribble | ST909 Epoxy Stickers - Natural | ST922 Clear Stickers - Happy Birthday | DD732 Interlock Circles | LDB1059 Natural Twine |

Thursday, August 18, 2016

Kaisercraft Christmas Wishes Card

Over on the Kaisercraft Blog today there is a collection of Christmas projects featuring the new Christmas Wishes Collection. I made this pop-up Christmas card using the Kaisercraft Card Creations Die - Snowflake Card Clip as my contribution. This was a die released last year, I just didn't include the snowflake on the card. Instead I fussy cut some Poinsettia flowers from the paper collection and used a doily and sentiment for the circle pop up section of the card.

I selected the colours aqua, pink and gold from this collection to be the focus colours of my card. The gold decorative edging is from the sticker sheet.

I decorated every surface of this card, including the inside with a little cluster of embellishments and sentiments.

Thanks for stopping by,

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Kaisercraft Barber Shoppe Layout

Its a Group Post over on the Kaisercraft Blog today and my contribution was this layout using the new Barber Shoppe Collection.

This is a masculine collection, but I added a few floral bits in as well like the doily and flowers.

This was a little photo of Nicky and I when we were out for breakfast one morning with Ben after having an early doctor appointment. We love going to this particular cafe at Main Beach for breakfast. Its not really that often that Nicky takes a great photo. So I do treasure the ones that turn out well. Often his glasses reflect light in the photo, or he refuses to smile!

Thanks for stopping by,

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Kaisercraft August Blog Challenge

Kaisercraft Christmas Wishes Layout by Alicia McNamara

The team at Kaisercraft are constantly blown away by the amazing response they get for their monthly challenges and July was no exception! Thank you to all those who took the time to enter. Kylie has sifted through all of the wonderful entries and the lucky winners will be announced on the Kaisercraft blog at 10am tomorrow!

This month the challenge is a Sketch (and a lovely sketch it is I might add).

Create any paper craft project you like using the above sketch as inspiration. It may be a layout, card, journal page or anything you feel inspired to create! Your creation must feature at least 80% Kaisercraft products from any current or previous release Kaisercraft paper collection.

We're looking forward to seeing your entries but first, some housekeeping for those who wish to play along...

Feel free to enter as many times as you like!
Your creation must feature at least 80% Kaisercraft products.
You may use any current or previous release Kaisercraft paper collection.
Link your finished project by creating a blog post on your personal blog or Facebook page, copy the link and add your name and link to the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Entries close Wednesday 31st August 2016 at 11.59pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time UTC +10/Daylight Savings Time UTC +11)

You could be one of two luck winners to receive a Kaisercraft goodie pack.

Winners will be announced Friday 9th August.

I chose a photo of one of my cute little nieces. I loved making this layout. I used the Christmas Wishes collection again. This time I picked out all the aqua colours and teamed them with a little champagne, wooden embellishments and butter yellow flowers.

These gorgeous wooden flourishes are new product for the month of August. This was my favourite design in the pack of four.

I treated myself to a new Kaisercraft leaf die. I just love it. I inked the edges and then curled them up a little. Its a great space filler.

I added plenty of little sparkly bits to this layout...I love these rhinestone swirls. I need more of these in every colour lol!

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Kaisercraft Templates - Christmas Wishes Layout

Today on the Kaisercraft Blog the Design Team are featuring Templates. Kaisercraft has released two new templates for the month of August.

IT915 Ornamental

IT914 Grunge

Templates can be used for many different applications, they're a great versatile product to have in your craft stash! You can use them as stencils with gesso, textured paste, ink or even coloured pencils.

I received the Ornamental Template in my DT Box. I mixed gold paint with Impasto and used the Snowflakes corner of the Ornamental Template to add gold snowflakes onto the background of my layout. It was really fun to do and I was happy with how they came out. I added some Candy Kaisermist and stuck little gemstones in the centre of each snowflake. I teamed this with the new Kaisercraft Collection "Christmas Wishes". I love the golds and pastels in this paper range.

This is a photo of my niece back in 2005, she was such a little cutie, and still is of course : )

Thanks for stopping by : )

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Kaisercraft Tuesday Tutorial - Make a Christmas Mini Album

Kaisercraft Christmas Wishes Mini Album Tutorial by Alicia McNamara

Well, its August! And that means its the start of my new year with Kaisercraft for the 2016-2017 Design Team. Today I'm sharing my first post for the year: a Photo Tutorial for how to create a Christmas Mini Album using the gorgeous new Kaisercraft "Christmas Wishes" Collection. If you love Kaisercraft Glitter and Foil Card Stock, Pastels, Gold, Doilies and all things sparkly then this Album is especially for you! It certainly sparkles! There are lots of yummy Kaisercraft Decorative Dies in this project as well...see if you can spot them all!

My motivation for making this album was to have a little place for a small collection of sweet photographs to be together. My sister had some photographs of her girls (when they were smaller) taken at Christmas time. I thought it would be nice to keep these four photos together in a little Christmas Mini Album. I am sharing photos of the album today followed by a step-by-step Photo Tutorial so you can make one of your own as well!

This is the front cover of the album. It has a "belly band" that can easily slide on and off meaning the album can be opened without having to untie any ribbons. The belly band is decorated with some Decorative Die Swirls and some Kaisercraft Paper Blooms.

The pages inside the album are all different sizes creating a layered staircase effect with lots of die cuts popping out from each page. Each page is trimmed with Gold Foil Card stock cut with DD101 Decorative Die Lacey Borders and Kaisercraft Glitter tape in a variety of colours.

Inside cover of the album.

Page 1

Page 2 and 3

Page 4 and 5

Page 6 and 7

Page 8

Page 9

Page 10

Page 11

Page 12

Inside back cover of the Album

So that is how the completed Album turned out. Now I am going to take you through the Tutorial of how to make this album : )

Photo Tutorial - How to Make this Mini Album

Step One:

Cut 2 Pieces of 6x6 inch white card, 1 piece of 6x2 inch white card and 1 piece of other coloured 6x6 inch card (I used green).

Step Two:

Measure your coloured card at 2 inches and 4 inches and glue the 2x6 inch strip onto the middle of the card. This will form the spine of your album.

Step Three:

Leaving a small gap on either side of the spine, glue both 6x6 inch white card stock to the green card stock. Score in the gaps and fold. This is the base for your Album cover.

Step Four:

Choose the papers for your Album Cover. You will need a back cover measuring 8x8 inches, a front cover measuring 8x8 inches and a spine piece measuring 8x4 inches. I chose P2145 Pearlescent for the back cover, FC205 Foil Cardstock - Brushed Gold for the spine and PS462 Pretty Doillie - Foil Specialty Paper for the front cover.

Step Five:

Measure your Spine Covering at 2 inches and 4 inches and adhere to the outside of your Album template.

Step Six:

Glue your front and back cover onto the base of your Album.

Step Seven:

Add Glitter Tape and Stickers to cover the joins between the papers. I used PT227 Gold, PT231 Hot Pink and PT230 Lilac Glitter Tapes and the SS319 Sticker Sheet.

Step Eight:

Trim the corners off the outside cover.

Step Nine:

Fold the edges up and glue into place.

Step Ten:

Cut a piece of paper measuring 12 inches wide and 5 3/4 inches high. This will become the base for the pages of your album. Score along this page vertically at 1/2 inch, 1/4 inch,1/2 inch, 1/4 inch, pattern right across until you get to the end.

Step Eleven:

Fold along the score lines and add tape to the 1/2 inch sections and glue together. The bits sticking up will be the foundation your pages will adhere to.

Step Twelve:

I cut mine down so I only had six raised bits because I felt it was the perfect fit for the width of the spine and I didn't want too many pages. Add glue to each section of the base and adhere to the centre of your Album spine.

Step Thirteen:

Choose two papers for the inside of your Cover and cut to 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches. I chose pages from the PP1003 Paper Pad. Then I inked the edges with IP732 Orchid Ink.

Step Fourteen:

Choose papers for your pages. I made six pages in total and you will need duplicates for the front and back of each page. I used papers from the PP1003 Paper Pad. Cut your pages to the following sizes:

Page 1: 5 3/4 x 1 inches (Cut 2)

Page 2: 5 3/4 x 2 inches (Cut 2)

Page 3: 5 3/4 x 3 inches (Cut 2)

Page 4: 5 3/4 x 4 inches (Cut 2)

Page 5: 5 3/4 x 5 inches (Cut 2)

Page 6: 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches (Cut 2)

Put adhesive tape around three edges of each page and glue matching papers together so you have a front and back of each page. Leave the side open where you will adhere it to the foundation bits in the inside spine of your album.

Step Fifteen:

Now you can start to assemble your pages into your Album. For each of my pages I added a Gold Foil die cut and glitter tape to the edge to give it a fancy finish. I used DD101 Lacey Borders with FC205 Foiled Card Stock - Brushed Gold. I began with adding Page 1 in first.

In this photo, you can see I have added the first three pages into the Album. I started to decorate a little bit as I added the pages in. You can see Christmas Collectables from CT862 on Pages 1 and 2.

In this photo you can see 5 pages glued into the album. I added tags on page 4 and 5 to decorate.

This photo shows all six pages now attached to the album.

Step Sixteen:

Now you can add your photos in and decorate your album. You can make your album as simple or as decorated as you choose!

Step Seventeen:

To make the Belly Band Cut two strips of paper 2 x12 inches and join together at one end. Add glitter tape to both edges of the strip and fold around the Mini Album to determine a good length and fit. You don't want it too loose so that it falls off too easily and you don't want it too tight so that it is difficult to take on and off the album. Once you are happy with the desired length, cut off the excess and join together. Slide the Bally Band onto the album to decorate it. Add a Kaisercraft Organza pink ribbon around the Belly Band. Then decorate with your choice of die cuts, decorative dies and paper blooms.

I would love to see if you make an album, or if this project has inspired you to make a Christmas layout or a Christmas Card. The Christmas Wishes collection is truely beautiful and you will love creating with it. Leave me a comment below to share your thoughts.

Have a happy crafty day,