Lets Talk About .... Midoris!

Hello Hello and welcome. Please sit and sip away at your hot beverage and let me INSPIRE you with projects and ideas!

Last year I got into the Midori Traveler's Notebooks. They have been around for ages, I have just been oblivious. Midori is a brand name for a planner system from Japan, but like many things people have worked out how to make their own. The original Midori is very easy to construct which is what I did after buying a LARGE piece of leather.

Making the booklets or inserts was rather simple too. The best part being that it is all very customisable for your personal needs and requirements. 

Then I found that people liked my book kits which needed to be resized to fit the dimensions of the traveler's notebook. So I bring you the next step in PRETTY Planners!



The book kits will be resized to be able to be printed off on A4 paper and turned into inserts. This one is available on the webstore for purchase and I will be making a few from time to time.

The Digital Pack is also available for download, without the ephemera. However the ephemera can be purchased separately as a download.

New Collection: 1920

Hello creative ones.

I had a few requests regarding my Gentleman Collection that was released last year. Many people liked the backgrounds but didn't want the graphic elements on the papers.

As a result I have released the 1920 collection as just that. All the grungy textured backgrounds without the graphics. There are three sizes, 12x12, 8.5x11 Letter and Cardmakers Size which depending on the size paper you print it can come out at 5 3/4 inches. Head over to the webstore www.kerryjeanwatson.com and buy it, download it and print it all at home!

Forgotten Meadows: Lilac and Blue

Hello Crafters. Welcome!

I have some more cards for you today from the Meg's Garden Forgotten Meadows Collection.

I have used some of the cut and create ephemera from the 12 inch papers and then layers them over the Forgotten Meadows papers.

Both the cards are very simple and elegant. 

I have used some of the lovely fibers and fiber ribbons for both of these cards.

Product list

Paper flowers

Paper Leaves

Mesh Ribbon

Burlap Ribbon

Gauze

Vintage Brads

Tim Holtz Word Bands

I hope you like my cards. Please feel free to leave a comment or questions.

Meg's Garden: Cards of Forgotten Meadows

Hello crafters and thank you for visiting my blog today. 

I have some step cards I have made with the new collection from Meg's Garden Forgotten Meadows that was released in February .

I really love the ephemera in this collection, which I really wanted to use for the cards. I am not big on the whole having "happy birthday" or " happy anniversary" on the front of the card, I like making generic cards where that information is written in on the inside to the recipient of the card. This gives me free reign to do whatever I want on the outside of the card.

For the first step card I used the Mini/card maker pack of Forgotten Meadows. I used the ephemera from the 12 inch Cut and Create page which has some wonderful ephemera.  I also used some of the Mini Rose Braid at the base of the card and the lovely paper flowers and rose buds.  The small bottles are also available as Meg's Garden and I love adding them to small cards as a bit of a feature. These two I filled with some of the ephemera rolled up. The inking around the edge of the paper is done with Tim Holtz Tea Dye distress ink.

For this second card I have use those wonderful paper leaves and paper flowers again, there is however this time a small white fabric Heirloom flower.  I found a Filigree Oval metal embellishment, a Tim Holtz pen nib and Word Band in my stash which works well. The edges are inked with Pumice Stone to add some contrast but not drown out that lilac in the wisteria on the paper.

I hope you like these two cards and please leave a comment or questions. Thanks for visiting my blog today.

Marion Smith Mini book with Box

Some weeks back I posted a projected I had done using one of  Marion Smith's project printables.  When my Correspondence Collection came out through Meg's Garden I wanted to do the project again with some of the 12 in papers. 

I wanted to make this one a little more elaborate than the first. To achieve this I used some of the wonderful lace from the Meg's Garden store, as well as the Mini Rose Braid. 

I love using the paper roses and big red paper flower with the small paper rosebuds. Those vibrant leaves just set the floral arrangement off nicely. I added a few of the vintage brads and of course there needed to be a butterfly from the transparency sheets available at Meg's Garden. The latch also came from Meg's Garden and it was a tough choice considering the range.

I hope you like this project and please feel free to leave a comment or question.

Marion Smith Mini book with Box project

I watch a lot of Marion Smith's Youtube videos and like a lot of her designs and collections, but I have never bought any of her printables as I have SOOOO much paper and craft stuff! I saw this little project on her youtube channel and saw the printable was only $5 and I could use a lot of the stock I already had. The video for the project is embedded at the bottom of this post.

It was so simple and easy to make (with a few little hiccups along the way) and I have so much fun making this little project that I plan on making it again with some other papers. 

Wood embellishments and Chippies

Today I thought I would do a showcase of projects I have done showing the use of wood embellishments or chippies. I use a lot of kaisercraft wood embellishments mostly because I wood at the Adelaide Outlet and bought a heap of them before I left. It isn't that I favor wood embellishments  just a matter of accessibility and convenience. I have seen some chippies I would LOVE to get my hands on and do some projects for, which is likely to happen at some point in the future. Some of my favorite projects are:

Some techniques used on these projects are simple painting, using embossing powder, and glassy accents to have a lovely varnished look. 

Meg's Garden: A touch of Christmas

I am a bit of a sucker for most things art nouveau, the colors, lovely flowing organic lines, it is just all very pretty. So when I was invited to join the design team at Meg's Garden, I came across the beautiful Christmas collection. Further more I found the 'Tis Christmas Time Collection has a divine paper with these lovely tag designs (Christmas Day P6367) which I knew I HAD to use. 

The paper flowers I colored with some paints and the lace I just inked a little 

Megs Garden products

Christmas Day

P6367

Christmas Angels

P6366

Christmas Cherries

P6363

Lace - 5cm white 

L2864

Mini Rosebuds

gt-w

Small White paper Roses

wh paper

Round Silver Diamante Trim 

RBY28

Birthday Card for a family friend

I really LOVE how this one turned out in the end. I struggled for a while trying to get the layout to work, but in the end it just worked. 

 

Heidi Swapp: Make pretty stuff down under

On the 11 November 2013, Adelaide was graced with the presence of the inspirational scrapbooker Heidi Swapp and her Aussie Media Team member Kim Jeffress. Prior to her arrival we were given a photo_a_day challenge, which at first was a little daunting to begin with but I managed to get in to it in the end. The challenge was posted and followed on Instagram the photos of which I actually used in one of the projects from the workshops event.

I had, unfortunately, hurt my self 4 days before Heidi's workshops and the night before was rather concerned whether I should be going at all. After some encouragement from my house mate and some of the other attendees via Facebook I made the decision to go for as long as I could manage.  

The first project was a techniques class in using masks and sprays and resists. Tell you some really HANDY tips came out of that project!!! 

Then came Kim's Christmas Mini album with lots of bits and pieces. I did as much on this as i could, but by the end of this project I was really struggling with pain and tiredness. 

After a tea break the third and final project was to start, I grabbed my kit and instructions and headed home, where I set to working on the memory album after my exam.

The Photo_a_day challenge photos I ended up using in the memory along with photos I took on the day of the workshops. 

All up I had a great time, it was a nice distraction from the pain I was in as well as the stress of my impending exam. 

Heidi and Kim are both wonderful ladies, I am a very glad to have met them both.