Five from one

 As promised I used the sheet of Kanban toppers that I bought at the Exeter show to make 5 cards using my own stash to stretch them.

For the first card I used a sheet of background paper, adding the topper skull strip across the bottom of the card.  I added some black stickles dots as fake gems and cut two butterflies from a masterboard of papercloth I made ages ago and have been slowly using (nearly all gone so I hope to find some time to make another batch as its a really useful item to have in your stash, though it does take a while to make because of the drying time of the glue before you attack it with the sewing machine).

 For card No 2 I used some more of the same background paper and used my scallop scissors (remember them?  I forgot I bought a pair all those years ago when they were popular, I found them during my clear up and remembered how lovely they are to use).  I added some leftover black card from my scrap box (and scalloped this also) and matted and layered the topper with black card, adding some more black stickle 'gems'.

Card No 3 was really quick, I used the large topper and placed it in the middle of the card.  I added a sentiment topper with some foam tape (from the hardware store-much cheaper) for dimension and doodled barbed wire around the edges of the card.

Card No 4 was just as quick and since I was pleased with the previous card I used the same techniques to produce this one.

 Finally Card No 5 was the last of the backing paper and some more off cut black card.  I edged the topper this time with the wedge end of a black promarker (this really is the quickest way to add a coloured border to a topper or card, but you do need a steady hand and not faff as if you falter and stop the colour will bleed).  I then added some more black stickle 'gems'.

There you go, five cards in one session from one topper.  I don't often use toppers (though I do seem to have a lot in my stash to use!) but often you have to really think outside of the box to make them a little different and that's no bad thing.

Happy crafting

Kyla

 

A new journal page

 Hello peeps, are you enjoying the sun and school holidays?  I love the fact that it means my commute is SO much quicker in the school holidays-so as far as I can see it's a win/win situation!

Only a quick update today, I have been playing in my journal again.  This time its my small travel journal that I often take with me for days out.

 

The background is a mix of acrylics, interference paint and inks with some ultra lightweight paste through a stencil for the numbers.

The words are printed off the computer and I keep a few random words in the back of my journal for use, the heart padlock tattoo was from a leaflet from a tattoo and music festival I went to last year...yep,leaflets and junk mail are a great source of stash, I just wish we had tyvek envelopes over here a bit more often for our mail so I could really go to town with the inks etc!

I added some barbed wire borders by hand and then wrote some personal testimony which I then lightly covered with white ink to partly obscure.

I finished it off by flicking some white ink.  The green blob in the middle is one of those issues we all have with other pages leaking through now and again...I tend to use quite a lot of ink so even gesso lets it bleed through sometimes.  I embrace it when it happens as it reminds me it is a handmade page and not digital (no issue with those that do digital crafting, but part of my job is being a bit of a computer geek so I try not to use one at home for craft!).

Right, off to check out my new solar lights!

Happy crafting

Kyla