Marble rolling

Well, Autumn is here and it's conker time.  I used to do conker rolling with paint to create backgrounds when my daughter was small.

A few years ago I did a workshop at he NEC with Marion Emberson and we used versamark reinker and marbles to create a great background.

Here's the one I've just done :

I used WOW embossing powders Nice Ice blue and Princess Pink (the pink has a slightly opaque texture, which works nicely with the translucency of the blue).

Last weekend I went to a demo hosted by Addicted2craft  by Sheena Douglas.  It was fantastic to watch, listen and be able to ask questions.  Sheena showed us her glycerin, embossing folder and heat embossing technique.  This got me thinking about a cheaper way to create the marble rolled background.  I found myself another jar and popped some marbles in (fortunately my daughter, who's now grown up hasn't taken all her belongings away yet, so I didn't have to go out and buy marbles).

Here's the result :

The trails are thicker and the embossed powder isn't as sparkly, but I like the effect.

Thanks to Marion and Sheena for sharing ideas that sparked an idea. x

Book Folded Birdcage

I've just discovered the new to me craft of book folding, it's great fun and adds another dimension to my crafting.

After folding the book (there are lots of tutorials online to get you started) I sprayed the whole book with Glorious Gold from Oak House studio.

Using the Fiskars AdvantEdge ironworks cartridge I cut the bottom border out using gold card.

For my focal point I cut a bird using the Fiskars Fuse bird die with a letterpress plate from self adhesive cork.

Then I added leaf vine ribbon

To decorate I used white flowers from Samaflora.  I chose white as I wanted to have a play spraying and painting them myself.  The small flowers were on wires, which meant I could slide them into a fold and glue them in place.

I have always loved blue poppies (a happy memory from my childhood).

For the hanging loop I used a large bead and a bead cap on wire

The finished decoration

There are a few butterflies in places as I felt the need to add butterflies (one of my favourite embellishments.

Thanks for dropping by Lynne x