A theme continued.......

Hey there friends....Abby here with a couple more pretties created with February's Natural Living Kit! This kit continues to stir up creations inspired by the look of handbags so today I'm sharing 3 different versions.......the first two featuring bits and pieces from the kit....while the third was created mostly with discontinued paper Lisa was kind enough to share with me.....

First up is a barrel style gift bag with handles made of pearls and gems....and the body created with the 7 gypsies Venice page, Basic Grey doilie and a brad from the kit along with a bit of satin ribbon from my stash....

....a view of the side reveals the barrel design with a rounded body and acordion folded ends.....

....the doilie continues on the inside of the bag for a finished look.....

....to accompany this beauty I created a unique card by adding a bit more of the 7 gypsies page to a Tattered Angels chipboard I had in my stash.....

Next you'll discover a very chic "change purse" made its way to my imagination....all it took was the bingo card from the kit and some embellies from my own stash to create this cutie....

.....since I love to add unexpected touches I lined the inside with vintage lace for a true purse feel....wouldn't this be the perfect way to perhaps give a little "green" to a friend in need:)

.....lastly.....a gift bag inspired by an evening bag.....simple and sophisticated....with just a pop of color on the outside.....a touch of lace.....and a brad from the kit....

.....and for a bit of an edgy, funky feel the inside is lined with zebra pattern paper....love it!

.....the brad from the kit added the perfect touch to this lovely bag....

Well that's it for today all....hope you enjoyed your visit here today. Don't forget to pop back over next week when we'll share our monthly challenge....lot's of fun to be had!

Abby:)

Papier Couture.......

Hello all……I'm back with a couple more lovelies to share with you today….each one featuring bits and pieces from February's Natural Living Kit….which by the way is on SALE!

.....the first creation was inspired by a chic handbag....the kind of handbag you’d find on a modern yet sophisticated lady…......

....many pieces from the kit came together to create this lovely bag.....it began with this Basic Grey page.....and joining it was the Prima Tudor flower topped with crystals from the Basic Grey Bling it On....then backed with part of this 7 gypsies page....finished with one of the brads in the kit...... .....and finally topped off with a touch of the Smooch Spritz also in the kit.....which by the way is amazing....it's sort of like Glimmer Mist but more potent....love it!

....for the finishing touches I created a "compact" shaped card.....layered with a transparency and tag also from the kit.....

........with the inside blank and ready for a sweet sentiment.....

....lastly.....a handle created with pretty satin ribbon and a few pearls.....adding that feminine touch that I can't resist.....

....a peek at the inside of the bag reveals a lovely little built in pocket for the compact card......

....now for the second bag which began its sad little existence as a plain $ Store gift bag and is now pretty'd up with a few beauties from the kit......

....this is a quick alternative to creating a custom made gift bag which can take quite a bit of time....by just adding a touch of pattern paper and satin ribbon to the top and bottom edge.....

....layering a few pieces of coordinating pattern paper like the Basic Grey green checks page and the 7 gypsies page featuring subtle handwritten notes....a 3D flower created by simply cutting and layering the flowers from this page.....and for the stem a smidge of the green tape that comes in the kit comes in handy....just twist and add a bit of your own tulle or ribbon to soften it a touch.....

....and for a little bit of whimsy a little birdie from the Woolies stickers in the kit made his way to this little number....just add a pair of waddling feet with craftwire and you're done....

Well.....that's all for today:) Thank you so much for stopping by and of course your sweet comments.....they make my smile. See you next Wednesday!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!

Abby:)

WoW, February already!...NEW KIT creations with Melanie

I can't believe it's that time again! A NEW, really fun kit, called Natural Living just went up in the store yesterday! Lots of the Basic Grey ORIGINS line in this one!


One of my favorite items Basic Grey made to coordinate with this line are the Tranquil Stamps. I can see myself using this "Memories of you" stamp over and over.

Here's a close-up of some easy to make layered flowers...and I'll even show you how!

Again, I used a image from the Tranquil stamp set. I used white American Crafts ZING embossing powder to really make the stamps pop off the page. Look at the cute felt birds, love them!


Here's an example of how I used the Smooch Spritz Spray Ink Mist. I sprayed a puddle on a sheet of paper and used a paintbrush...

and painted the inside of the embossed letters for extra shimmer on my page. This mist is really colorful and full of shimmery goodness. I even sprayed it on the entire white cardstock which is peeking out through one of the layers. And I couldn't stop there, on all the torn pieces and edges I painted on those edges too.

Ready of a quick tutorial/technique on layered transparency flowers using an embossing tool? Now this is how you get texture!

First, using flower punch-punch out 3 flowers for each flower you are going to make. I wanted to layer different colors, so I stuck a black transparency flower in between the 2 green ones. Sometimes the punch don't go all the way through the transparency so just press down to get the outline and hand-cut the rest of it out. A freestyle flower hand-cut works great too. Don't worry about being perfect-you won't notice it in the end.

Stack a group of 3 on top of each other.

I used a Basic Grey Brad what coordinated with my transparency flower. I stuck the entire flower into a foam pad, so it would keep everything together and I didn't burn my fingers.


Use the heat embossing tool and starting at the bottom, aim the embossing tool up let each petal just fall into place and crumple up. Making sure you do 1 petal at a time to get lots of texture. Once it cools, the transparency stays firm. This entire process of letting the petals crumple up only takes a minute.

Each flower will look different!


Here's the set of 3 I made for my Memories of you layout.

Give it a try and let me know how it goes!

Have a great Monday!
~Melanie