TUTORIAL TUESDAY - Guest Post, Jodie King

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Hi friends, it's Jodie here today and I'm so excited to bring you my first post as Guest Designer for APOCD's January Releases! I've used the Cupcake Kit and a January release Cut File & Brushes from the Digital Store.

Our DS is about to start Uni, and this weekend he moved out of home so that he can study in Brisbane. I wanted to create a layout to celebrate this incredibly exciting time for him, a time when the whole world just seems to open up and anything is possible.

The January Cupcake Kit has two gorgeous Double Scoop Gelatos, and I've used the Mango Gelato in three ways to create my background. Here's a quick step by step on how I've created it.

Start with a piece of white cardstock and prime it with Gesso. Priming allows the Gelatos to blend more easily over the surface and gives a smoother finish, and it also prevents the cardstock from curling and distorting quite as much.

Allow the Gesso to air dry. When dry apply the Gelato across the page where you want the most vibrant colour to be. As you can see you don't need to be super neat with this step at all.

Take a baby wipe and rub over the Gelato to blend the colour, this creates a watercolour effect. When you have blended where you'd like the most vibrant colour, go over the edges with a clean section of baby wipe for a lighter shade, blending back to the white cardstock.

To use your Gelato to create a droplet or splatter effect, put a very small amount of water into a glass or small container. Rub the Gelato in circles on the bottom of the container to release the colour into the water. This may take a few minutes, but the more you rub the more concentrated the colour becomes.

When you have your desired colour, use a small paintbrush to apply splatters to areas of your background.

The final element to our Gelato background is to use a background stamp for subtle visual texture.

For this technique you will need a background stamp, a Gelato and a spray bottle of water (I've used a background stamp from my stash).

Apply the Gelato directly to the stamp in random sections (to create an imperfect edge). It's okay to get a fair bit of colour onto the stamp as it will be a darker layer over the already-coloured background. Spritz the stamp with water and let it sit for a minute while the Gelato activates, then stamp it on the already coloured section of the background. Repeat to create a random pattern.

And here's the background with our three Gelato techniques.

I've pulled a lot of the brighter papers and embellishments from the kit to match the vibrant Mango Gelato background. These pennant die cuts from the My Mind’s Eye Jubilee mixed bag come together as a quick and easy banner.

I've cut the word "Celebrate" in black cardstock from the Clink Clink Cut Files and Brushes. It doubles as my title and also as part of my journalling. I was curious if the scripty font would cut cleanly on my Cameo and I'm super happy with how it turned out - a beautiful clean cut.

There are lots of woodgrain elements in this kit, some of my faves being the Studio Calico Heyday frame stickers and the Jillibean Soup woodgrain frames.

To finish the layout I've added some black ink splatters using Mr Huey's (from my stash) and a few of the metallic sequins from the kit.

Thanks for dropping by today!

Jodie

Tutorial Tuesday with Aimee Dow

Hi! I think maybe I forgot to mention yesterday that I am commandeering the blog this week. I am SO late putting up all my December project's its not funny, but then their to good to waste. Today I am going to show you a totally frivolous page I made with Decembers Main Kit.

I was so inspired by Paige Evan's recent page "Cute Story Recorded", that I thought I'd give hand stitching and watercolours a go for myself.

It's actually not as hard as you would think. First I stitched my city. I used an old Amy Tangerine template to mark my holes and then I stitched using a variegated DMC (Thread that changes colour). There is nothing stopping you dyeing your own either. In fact if you use mists to watercolour like me, it's just a matter of dipping your white DMC in and letting it dry.

I used the gold tag to add a little more detail to the layout.

To add a touch more gold glitter I painted a circle in PVA glue and liberally doused it with glitter.

And there you have it a really simple layout that didn't take much time at all!

Just a quick reminder that the December Main kit is currently on sale for $26.60 and it's a great way to get your hands on some Amy Tangerine goodness, let alone the awesome black and white washi that I can't seem to get enough of!

Until tomorrow,

Aimee xx

Tutorial Tuesday with Natalie May

Hello again

Popping in today to share a quick page with you using the December Main Kit!

This is another super easy but really effective formula for creating a page!

I quite often scrap a very similar page based on the same design ... but with the simple addition of some matting and a journal pen it can look very different from the last!

I love what matting can do to a page.

This would have looked totally different and very flat if the black cardstock was not there.

By adding the black mat and the black doodling, each paper stands out on the page.

I used the American Crafts 'DIY Shop' Inventory Tag and layered the American Crafts 'DIY Shop'; Speciality Dictionary Print Vellum and added one of the gorgeous sticker from Amy Tangerine 'Stitched'; Remarks Accent & Phrase Stickers.

 

The Amy Tangerine 'Stitched'; Mini marks  Rubons go on like butter - 

I even used my fingernail rather than the rub on tool to put them on!

 

Hope you are all having as much fun with this kit as I am!

Natalie May 

 

Tutorial Tuesday: Anna Allan - Christmas Card Holder...

Hello!

And a Scrappy New Year to all ;-)

Today I am sharing a quick how-to for an easy but decorative way to store those Christmas cards you receive every year! I am using the December Cupcake Kit.

The only thing I added from my own stash was the red cardstock and a couple more designs of washi tape - the rest is all kit.

STEP 1 - grab a 12x12" piece of cardstock in your desired colour (obviously, I chose red). Score it right DOWN the middle at the 6 inch mark and then ACROSS 4 inches from the bottom.

STEP 2 - Fold up the 4 inch section first. Then fold along the 6 inch score line with the 4inch flap on the inside. I then used my long arm stapler to secure the middle and both open edges of the flap.

STEP 3 - It's then time to decorate!

*I began with the cover. From one of the 8x8" patterned papers, I cut a 6x4" piece. 

For added pattern and layers, I cut out some rough scalloped border style pieces and also some flags and created a type of banner along the top edge of the 6x4" piece. Adhered that all onto the bottom section of the page and popped a half of the large doily behind it. I cut one of the sentiments out of the cut-apart pieces of the papers in the kit and adhered it to this section also.

*For the title part, I created my own garland using the string, washi tape (plus a couple of others from my own stash), the alpha stickers, and the sequins from the kit. I folded the washi tape over the string so it sticks to itself then snipped little banner ends out of them to create little flags. In between each flag, I threaded on some of the sequins for some added bling :-)

Stuck the required alphas on each flag and attached it to the top of the front page with my tiny attacher.

Ta-Da!

* To finish, I swiped on some of the gold paint (which I love I might add!!), popped on one of the die-cuts from the epehemera pack and used the stickers to add the year.

* For the inside - I used two panels from the cut-aparts and attached them to each side. As the kids are getting Christmas cards from the school kids now, I have one side of the folder for the kids cards and the other for all our family ones. I labelled these accordingly with the alpha stickers. Popped on another die-cut each side and it was ready for the cards!!

 You could embellish the inside flaps more or not at all. You could just label them.

It's really up to the individual.

It's nice to have the Christmas Cards all in one place and looking nice - not just piled together with a rubber band in a box.

This way is decorative and allows you to add your own touch and flair to storing your cards.

Until next time, take care and happy creating!

Anna :-)

Tutorial Tuesday with Natalie May

 

 Do you have a pile of Pizza Boxes left over from all those super awesome kits that Raquel sends you?
What do you do with them?

 

I have a couple in great condition that I store my Cameo cuts in (see here for pics) but more often than not, I keep them for a month or two them put them out in the recycling!

I ripped open my box when the delivery guy came today - I swear he thinks I have a pizza fetish LOL- and had an idea ......use the box for my page - well - at least trim it down to 12x12 and use it as a base!

So .... first things first, I used a kraft knife and cut it back to 12x12 then ripped off a few of the top layers in a few areas.



This exposed the corrugated card underneath.
I then used a dry brush to swipe some gesso over the card before using my AHHHHMAZING December  Main kit and create my layers!

I used some stamps and archival ink from my stash to add a little detail on the edges then cut some simple banners, mounted my photo, added some super cool stickers and a digi cut before stapling on my title!




Too easy!

Have a great day
Natalie May