Artline Monday - International Scrapbooking Day

Today is International Scrapbooking Day so it's the perfect time to get crafty and creative while recording your memories!  

Scrapbook and pens

It has been years since I have done any scrapbook projects but knowing this day was coming up I felt inspired to get started again!  I don't have any special kits anymore but I do have plenty of papers and embellishments like tags, note cards, twine and washi tape so I decided to use these to make my first spread. 

Making heart decorations

I wanted to make some decorations using my Artline pens so I sorted out some different kinds of paper and a stencil.  I drew heart shapes onto linen card, watercolour paper and on a page out of an old book and then coloured them in using my Supreme highlighters and brush markers.

Blending the inks

Then I used a wet paint brush to blend and lighten the inks.

Watercolour hearts

Hearts on a page from a book

Once the papers had dried completely I cut them out carefully and then it was time to make my spread.

My heart embellishments

I started by adding strips of washi tape to my pages and then glued in a photo, some of the hearts and a note card for me to record my memories on.

Starting to decorate my pages

I used my brush marker to write Family on a little yellow tag and tied some matching twine to it before I glued it into place.

Family tag with matching twine

Then I arranged the rest of my hearts around the pages until I was happy with how it looked and glued them down too.

One side of my scrapbook spread

I love how each set of hearts have turned out differently depending on which kind of paper or card I used to make them.  I think the watercolour ones are my favourites but they all add a nice splash of colour to my layout.

The finished design

Are you an avid scrapbooker?  Do you have any hints or tips for me as I fill in this new book, please let me know!  

If you've never done any kind of scrapbooking do you fancy giving it a go?

See you next time!

Artline Monday - Tooth Fairy Day

Thursday 28th February is Tooth Fairy Day, who knew?  The tooth fairy is very special so she definitely deserves her own day to celebrate all her hard work and I thought it would be nice to do something to mark the occasion.

Scrap fabric and Artline pens

I've tried lots of tooth fairy crafts over the years, tiny notes, fairy dust and special milestone cards and messages etc but I've never made a tooth pillow before so I wanted to give it a go today.  I'm also feeling a bit inspired by the return of the Great British Sewing Bee so I broke out my cotton, pins and needles!

I decided to upcycle a couple of bits of old baby clothes to make the pillow.  I used my Artline fineliner to mark out the pieces of cloth I needed and then cut out two squares of stripy pink material to make the pillow and a smaller strip of white fabric to make the pocket which will go on the front of it.   

Personalising the pocket

I am making this pillow for my youngest daughter as she still has plenty of milk teeth left to loose.  I thought she would like me to personalise it for her so I decided to decorate the pocket with an Artline fabric marker before I pinned and stitched it into shape.

Pinning the pocket

I used a simple running stitch to sew the pocket together and added a little strip of pompoms along the top edge too.

I also attached the pompoms along the edges of my stripy pink material for the body of the cushion and then pinned and stitched three of the sides together leaving one side open to fill with stuffing.  Then I sewed the personalised pocket onto the centre of the cushion again using a running stitch.

Sewing

Using the end I had left open I filled the cushion with lots of stuffing and then closed the edge with some small, neat stitches. 

Adding the stuffing

Here is the finished pillow, it is now ready to hold a little lost tooth when the next one falls out (which according to my daughter could be any day now!).  I also think it might help the tooth fairy do her job as a mini cushion must be easier to find in the dark, under a pillow with a sleeping child on top of it than a tiny tooth on its own, don't you think?

All set to hold it's first tooth

Does the tooth fairy still visit your house?  How much does she leave your children?  I don't care about inflation, in our house if you loose a tooth she leave a pound coin.

Thanks for stopping by!

Artline Monday - Half term craft

Are you looking for something to do to keep your children busy this half term?  I have an idea for you today that is fun and easy and best of all you probably have the supplies you need to make it already at home!

My youngest daughter loves llamas and she is really happy that they have become popular recently so when I saw this idea for paper plate llamas on Pinterest I knew we had to give it a go!

Supplies

You will need:

• Paper plates
• Scissors
• Glue or sticky tape
• A ruler
• A selection of pens & poster markers for decoration

Take your paper plate and draw a line down the centre of it with your ruler, then cut the plate in half.

Cut your plate in half

Put one half of the plate to one side, this will be the body.  Take the second half and draw the head and neck of your llama, don't forget it's ears too.

Draw the head and neck

Take the other half of your plate and turn it over so the bottom of it is the side we will draw on.  Glue or tape the neck underneath the body of the llama.  

Attach the head to the body

Using the piece you cut the head out from draw four legs and a tail and then cut them out.

Draw four legs and a tail

Glue or tape these to the llama....

Attach the legs and tail

... then it is time to decorate and add some details!  I used the circle of the bottom of the plate as a guide for my blanket shape and then painted it blue with my Artline poster marker.  

Adding a blanket

Once the blue had dried I added some metallic pink tassels with another poster marker.

Drawing the tassels

Next I drew an eye, nose, mouth and a set of reins on the llama, I also coloured in the inside of the ears with a little bit of pink, added a few eyelashes and some more tassels around the reins.

Adding some details

The great thing about Artline poster markers is that you can draw over the top of them once they have dried properly so I added some silver spots to my blanket too.

Silver spots

Here is my finished llama!

My llama

My daughter was also making her own one following the steps as I made mine.  She raided my Artline supplies and decorated her llama all by herself.

Painting her blanket

She is really pleased with the llamas and she wants to carry on making more over the holiday so she can decorate her room with them.  I thought I could peg them onto some string for her to make a kind of bunting or display once she's finished making an army of them!

Our paper plate llamas

My favourite thing about this craft is it isn't messy and my seven year old can complete all the steps herself so now she knows what she is doing I can go and make myself a nice cup of tea while she toils away making more on her own.

Do you like the current llama trend?  If they aren't your thing you could try different animals instead if you adjust the shape a little.  I'm thinking horses or maybe even unicorns?  I might give that a go and see how they turn out!

Thanks for stopping by!