5 Tips for your scrapbooking works!

Hi everyone!

Myry again and today I'm going to give you some tips when you using chipboards in your scrapbooking compositions.

First tip: make two groups when you gonna choose what chipboards to use for your project: one with thematic chipboards (for example, baby theme's chipboards) and other with chipoards that you can use in any project no matter the theme). Fortunately Gypsy Soul Laser Cut can help you with that: they've a wide range of "neutral" chipboards! 

Second tip: divide the different types of "neutral" chipboard into smaller groups. I usually make 4 groups: nature, frames, borders and corners, and "potpourri" (that is everything else).

 

 

(if you want to see all these chipboards in detail -and many more- take a look here).

Third tip: You might think that some chipboards are just one piece, but you only need scissors to sort out that! For example, this is one of my favourites: Leafy Swirl, beautiful plant panel.

Now contemplate the power of the scissors! The most useful nonsense I learned last year!

Fourth tip: Maintenance! Clean the edges before doing anything else. If you are concerned about color gray, you can always use colors, even paint it a cream color to make it look like a common chipboard.

Fifth tip: It doesn't matter the "theme" of your work, it matters where you place your supplies!

A piece of branch can be very versatile!

Don't be afraid to use little chipboards. Corners can go well in almost any place!

And let's not forget the frames, they can get us out of any trouble!

I don't know why but butterflies look good in any project!

I encourage you to use your neutral chipboards in all your projects!

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts items used:

Leafy Swirl

Butterflies & Dragonflies

Feathery Flourishes Miniatures

Other items used:

Scissors

Rag

Cream acrylic paint

Butterfly Greeting Card

Hello there friends and crafty peeps! Ginny here to share a greeting card I created with some beautiful GSL chippies.

Lately I've been enjoying creating cards without specific greetings. This makes them super practical to use for just about any occasion. 

 Those butterflies are a great focal point and the chicken wire chippie makes for a lovely textural backdround and helps to fill in the space.

I think the wood grain patterned paper creates a nature inspired look.

Flowers layered with die cut leaves and a few berry picks help to fill in this corner.

To carry the theme up to the top of the card I added a few butterfly charms and an additional flower.

I chose the chipboards I wanted to work with and wiped them to down to prepare them for altering.

Flat white acrylic works great on the chicken wire. Don't worry about getting it perfectly coated the mottled effect makes it look extra vintagy. The butterflies were finished simply with embossing powder then heat set for a nice shiny surface.

Wishing everyone a happy and productive day : ) G

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts: Chicken Wire, Butterflies and Dragonflies.

Pretty Little Cabanas

These sweet mini houses just cried out to be decorated with some pretty papers and butterflies. They were made from the GSL Cabana Row Minis. Let me walk you through how they were made.

The papers I used were from both the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea line and the Paper Studio Pretty Petals line. Before assembly, I used the flat cabana as a template for cutting my papers. That made decorating them super easy.

The houses easily fold together with the pre-scored lines. I assembled them using tacky glue and held them together with craft clips while the glue was drying.

Each cabana received a piece of ribbon or trim around the roofline to conceal where the two different papers meet.

The roof sections were painted on one side and papered on the other. Those were then glued into place using rubber bands to hold them while the glue dried. Each cabana received an additional scrap of trim around their base. 

On the front of each cabana I added a small butterfly from the GSL Butterflies and Dragonflies set. Those were painted in a cream colored acrylic paint.

Decorating was fun! I got out my supply of pearls, resin flowers, embellishments and even more trim and played around with the lot until I was happy with the result.

The only thing left was to glue a bit of Sweet Pea Flower Soft sprinkles along their rooflines. What an adorable little neighborhood they make. Thanks for stopping by!

 

Gypsy Soul Items Used

Cabana Row Mini 

GSL Butterflies and Dragonflies

Other Items Used

Tacky glue

Acrylic paint

Graphic 45 Botanical Tea paper

Paper Studio Pretty Petals paper

Flower Soft – Sweet Pea

Ribbons and trim

Resin Flowers

Pottery Embellishments

Flat back pearls

Hedgerow Across the field

Hello, it's Heather with you today with a simple project which can either be just a picture or made slightly smaller and used as a card. 

I recently bought a pad with various patterns of paper

When I saw the one in the background of this project I remembered that I had got quite a lot of Gypsy Soul Laser cuts items that I could use to make a hedgerow,

which I am sure anyone can see all over the world. I began by painting all the relevant parts with white Gesso, but I only did one side as they were all going to be stuck down in some way. When the Gesso had dried I used various greens and browns in distress ink to colour the fronds, and finished them off with Cosmic Shimmer gilding polish to give them a bit of a shine, I coloured the grass in green and the foliage in Powder blue gilding polish. Then I began to layer the fern fronds across the bottom of the paper in different directions, I stuck them down with everyday crafting glue and layered some on top to give some texture and density. We get lots of different birds, butterflies and dragonflies around where I live, so I thought I would add some of these to my project. 

I just coloured the birds with various distress inks and gilding polish then I discovered that I had some birds on branches in my stash so coloured those and added them into the hedgerow.

Because the background paper on the project is 12" x 12" it began to look a bit bare across the top and corner so I coloured some more of the little birds and a leafy corner (which I did with green gilding polish) and added these together with a butterfly from the butterfly and dragonfly set to the background.

If you decide to do this smaller, to give as a card, the sentiment can go in the upper half of the picture and I am sure that anyone would be only too pleased to receive it.

Gslcuts items used:

Grass & foliage

Fern fronds

Mini birds & nests shape set

Birds on branches assortment

Butterflies & dragonflies

Leafy corners

Other Items used:

Cosmic shimmer gilding polish

Distress inks

Cosmic shimmer Acrylic Glue

I do believe in Fairies!! Layout by Lynne

I absolutely love the wire fairy sculptures by Fantasywire, and have used several of them on layouts; I loved how magical this fairy image looks in the gorgeous frame from Gypsy Soul!

I used the Flourished Open Circle frames and Prima Royal Menagerie papers, fussy-cutting elements from the papers and adding layers and handstitching for interest and dimension. When I handstitch on a project, I usually draw my lines in pencil then poke the holes with a good-sized needle or pin, working with a mouse pad under the project as I pierce it. It is much, MUCH easier to stitch when the holes have been premade like this, and a lot easier on the paper too! I usually use 2 or 3 strands of embroidery floss, depending on the thickness I want.

This butterfly was painter with acrylic paint then heat embossed in clear; I allowed the melted embossing powder to swirl around a bit and make the colours flow.

This butterfly was also painted with acrylic paint and then inked a bit with coordinating colours, but the layer of clear embossing powder was thinner and just meant to give it a bit of a sheen.

The frames and word pieces were all primed in white, then heat embossed with Donna Salazar embossing powder in Jasmine, which created a lovely smooth and shiny surface. I then sponged them with dusty rose pigment ink to echo the colours in the papers.

I popped up the fussy cut bits with some foam tape and added some of my beloved stenciling, and some acrylic dots which echo the touch of warm colour in the photo. I hope you liked my page and wish you a magical day!

GYPSY SOUL ITEMS USED

Flourished Open Circle Frames Medium

Butterflies & Dragonflies

Word Elements 1-small

OTHER ITEMS USED

Prima stencil
Fiskars border punch foam adhesive
acrylic dot stickers
Donna Salazar embossing powder-Jasmine
Versamark Ink
clear embossing powder
Colorbox pigment ink-Dusty Plum
embroidery floss and needle

This Ballerina Music Box Goes Steampunk by Betsy Skagen

My latest creation was inspired by my daughter who will be performing in a steampunk circus show for the month of August.

Instead of being a dancer like this tiny figure, my daughter will be riding a giraffe unicycle (giraffes are the extra tall unicycles) amid amazing steampunk props and scenery. However I loved the idea of transforming the typically delicate music box into a steampunk wonder.

 

You too can make this steampunk ballerina music box. Begin by assembling a 3-Inch Cube (coming soon to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts).Then cover the cube, Texture Sheet Gears 6 x 6, Gears Shape Set and Butterflies and Dragonflies with black gesso.

Add a coat of matte black acrylic paint to the cube.

After the gesso dries, apply embossing ink and embossing powder to some old springs, the gears and butterflies and set with heat. Repeat this process several times, building layers of copper, rust, black and brown in order to give the pieces a rust colored and rough textured appearance. 

Cut the texture sheet into sections to roughly fit on each side of the cube (except the bottom) and adhere to the cube. 

Using strong adhesive,  tweezers and a bit of patience, use the springs and individual gears to build three-dimensional sculptures out from the cube. 

Use a copper colored paint pen to change a plastic ballerina's skirt from pink to copper. Adhere the ballerina to the top of the box. 

Using the same technique as earlier, continue building out from the top of the cube with the butterflies.

Cut a small diamond from reflective paper and line it with strips of black cardstock. Adhere it to the butterflies to create the music box mirror. 

Cut a wind-up key from chipboard and punch two holes in it. Paint it with the copper colored pen. 

Fold the end of the key and adhere it to the side of the cube. 

Thank you for stopping by today. I hope you find something to inspire your creativity! -Betsy

Great Stuff

3" Cube  (coming soon to Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts)
Texture Sheet Gears 6 x 6
Gears Shape Set
Butterflies and Dragonflies

Old springs

Black gesso

Embossing ink

Embossing powder in brown, copper, black, rust

Reflective paper

Black cardstock

Chipboard

Beacon Fabri-Tac

Hot glue gun

Plastic ballerina

Copper paint pen