Hi, it’s Lisa with you today for this weeks ‘Tips and Tricks’ post. I thought I would go through with you how I like to sew on my LO’s. It’s ‘sew’ easy (sorry about that, I couldn’t resist).

I was going to show you using this new layout here that I made using this months ‘Forecast’ kit. I have also thrown in a few other little tips along the way.

I have a thing about colour combos. I keep a combo in the back of my head when I create and adding a few stitches here and there in the contrasting colour really brings everything together.

I always use my paper piercer. I can’t believe how long I lived without this simple and very cheap tool. It was so tricky to do before and I was always cutting my fingers trying to push the needles through. Now the job is so easy. I pierce wherever I want to sew and then grab a big embroidery needle and some double sided sticky tape to secure the backs so the stitches don’t come loose.

Here I have used a simple cross stitch. The holes are pierced in the shape of a square and you cross over the two stiches. I like doing this over my alphas sometimes like this. And in case you are thinking ‘Hey, I didn’t get those alphas in my main kit!” these are the green Thickers from the main kit but I’ve used a Prima Chalk Ink to ink them blue. The Prima Chalk Inks are great for this. They are small and shaped well enough to do this so well.

Aswell as cross stitches being dotted about on my pages, I like to add the odd single stitch here and there too like this. I just wanted a little red to break up all the brown here. Another easy stitch to do on paper is the running stitch. I like to sew in a straight line so take a pencil and ruler first and then pierce along the line to make sure that the stitches are kept straight and even. I cut some of the Elle’s Studio paper from the kit in to three strips and stitched along them here.

Notice something different though? I’ve stitched the wrong side up.  I’ve turned the paper around and stitched on the back of the paper so it’s neat on the reverse and you get this thicker slightly untidy look on the front.

I have loved the Cocoa Daisy/Simple Stories papers so much in this kit. They are so me. I used this piece here for this LO.

I wanted to use the four poloroids across the centre of my page, but I had already cut part out. I had a big gap between my photo and the brown paper of the polaroid. If you go back up to the second photo you can see where I added a yellow arrow to cover it up. You would never know : )  That’s what I love about this craft, there are never mistakes, just cover ups.

In this last photo I have used the stamps from the main kit. Aren’t they cute?! I do love using clouds on my work. Makes me think Carebears. I stamped the images using the same Prima Chalk Ink as before and using the paper piercer I pierced holes all around the clouds to then be able to sew neatly.

One last tip before I finish up, have you spotted the red ‘Love’ sticker? This is one of the yellow Jillibean word stickers from the main kit. A much as I loved the yellow, it needed to be red, so I’ve coloured over with a red pen whilst it was still on the sticker sheet.

My sewing is really basic, it’s nothing fancy, but I enjoy it and enjoy how it looks. It can be time consuming when I sew alot on a page so quite often I pierce the holes when making the LO and then sit and sew when watching tv with hubby in the evenings. You can also look for more fancy stitching on You Tube. Take it to a whole new level. There are some really good sewing templates out there to buy too which makes it so much easier or why not make your own??

I hope you’ve enjoyed this ‘Tips and Tricks’ post today. I loved making this LO to be able to share this with you.

Thank you.

Happy Wednesday everyone!  I have a quick one for you today.  I am always using non artsy things for my scrapbooking and mixed media projects.  This time I used a styrofoam meat packing tray as a stamp.  I noticed the indentations in the tray and realized it would work really well. I gave it a good scrub with soap and water and dried it well.

I then cut it up into smaller pieces that would be easy to handle.

I decided on my paint color and brushed a light coat of craft paint onto the styrofoam.

Then I pressed it onto my background cardstock.  Just like with a stamp and ink pad, I kept coating the styrofoam with paint as I stamped.

Here is my finished layout.

Another fun thing to do with styrofoam trays is to create your own stamps.  The tray needs to be flat, w/o indentations.  Just use a pencil and draw onto the tray.  The pencil will create it’s own indentations.  Then paint over the tray and press down.  Your homemade design will show up!

Here is a photo and a tutorial from Ruth Bleakley.  D.I.Y. printmaking tutorial.

Have a great Wednesday!