Sunday 24 December 2017

Christmas Wishes snow shaker bauble

Hello, design elf Katrina here to wish all the readers of The Fruit Pixie blog a very happy Christmas. I leave you one last quick project using the Impression Obsession Town Builder die and some scraps of the Craftwork Cards Christmas blackboard papers
Well I am now off to the North Pole to help Father Christmas with the last of the wrapping and packing. I will be back with more Crafty projects in 2018.                                       Happy Christmas everyone                                                                    Love Katrina x

Friday 15 December 2017

12 days of Christmas stamped decorations

Hello! Design elf Katrina here. Well Christmas is gradually creeping up on us, preparations are being made for the big day and I have some stamped decorations for you to add to your tree.
 
To make these decorations I have used the Creative Expressions 12 days of Christmas stamp set, along with the matching paper set.
 
The base of the decoration is stamp board but you can easily use thick card.
 
I painted the bases with the wonderfully shiny Cosmic Shimmer Pixie Powders. I used them as a paint this time by adding a couple of puffs to a drop of water then mixed it together into a paint. I then painted the fronts and backs .
 
The stamps were then stamped onto a sheet of the matching paper pad and cut out. I then stuck the different days of Christmas on the front and the 12 days of Christmas stamp on the back.
 
Then i drilled a hole in each of them and added some bakers twine and a bell, I love bells at Christmas!
 
Here are all the different decorations together.
 
The eagle eyed of you would of noticed the is no partridge in a pear tree. I must admit I did find that a bit annoying. It is included in the matching paper pad but it would of been nice to have the whole set in the stamps to.
 
They do look good on the tree though
 
Here is the back
 
I finished mine off with a coat of glittery varnish to seal them.
 
So, if you would like to make these decorations you can find the products in the shop.
 
The 12 days of Christmas stamps
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/creative-expressions-clear-stamp-set-12-days-of-christmas-25850-p.asp
 
The matching paper set
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/creative-expressions-8-x-8-paper-pad-12-days-of-christmas-25854-p.asp
 
Cosmic Shimmer Pixie powders
Can be found in the Fruit Pixie Etsy shop
 
Bakers twine
 
I hope you have enjoyed taking a look at my decorations, I will be back very soon with another project idea.
Until then , take care
      Love Katrina

Thursday 7 December 2017

Upcycle book corner bookmarks

Hello, design elf Katrina here. This time I have a wonderfully quick project for you that would make a great extra little surprise if you are giving books as presents this Christmas. Upcycled corner bookmarks.    I have been making these for years and find they are actually better at keeping your page than other bookmarks as they slide onto the corner of your page and when the book is closed they stay there.    These corner bookmarks couldn’t be easier or cheaper as they upcycle the envelopes all those bills and letters that fall thought our letterboxes daily. All you need then is all those offcuts of papers we keep as crafters from our projects and some glue.    First collect together your envelopes and chop off their corners
Then all you need to do is cover them with paper. You do need to keep it flat and not too many layers of paper. One tip though, you might want to put something on one side that tells you its that side of the bookmark you were reading. Of course if you are using them in cookbooks or other reference books, I use them in my German course book, you might not need to know that.
 
Here are some I have made using different Craft Consortium papers
As you can see they are super easy and look really pretty. These would be great projects for the children to make, especially if they are bookworms!
 
Until next time, take care
 Love Katrina

Sunday 26 November 2017

Christmas birdhouse decoration

Hello, design elf Katrina here to share with you my first Christmas project for 2017.   I have used the Tando mini chipboard birdhouse along with the Tando mini birds and branches to make this cute Christmas decoration.
This is such a fun little project to make, the birdhouse is so easy to put together and you can then add whatever you like to match your Christmas colours.
 
For my Christmas birdhouse I decided to use the wonderful decoupage papers from Craft Consortium. I chose the Merry Christmas papers as our Christmas tree is the traditional red gold and green.
 You will find it easier to cover the pieces before you put the birdhouse together. I painted all the pieces white on the outer side so the colours on the decoupage papers will be brighter.    I just use a PVA glue, you can water it down if it is very thick. Apply the glue to the surface of your birdhouse and then place it glue down onto the sheet of the decoupage paper. Roughly cut it out and leave to dry. Once dry trim off any excess paper and apply another layer of the PVA over the top of the paper to seal it and leave to dry again.  Once fully dry I painted all the edges with the Cosmic Shimmer paints and put my birdhouse together. Before you put the roof on, which I had painted white using the Cosmic Shimmer paint, I painted the inside of the birdhouse.   You need to think about how you want to use your decoration. If you want it to hang its best to put the hanging string in now. I used a glittery red Christmas trim. I made a loop and tied a big knot at the bottom. I then put the bottom end into the birdhouse with the loop of the trim hanging out and glued the second roof piece in place. Once dry the loop can be pulled up and hopefully your knot was big enough to not be pulled out.
 Now you can add your decorations. I used the Tando mini birds and branches. I painted the birds and branches with the Cosmic Shimmer paint and the stamped over the birds with a brown ink using the IndigoBlu dinky holly flush stamp.   I also cut some Mistletoe using the Couture Creations Mistletoe die and used some of the glitter card I had used for the icicles on the roof for the berries.
 I used some green pipe cleaners I had to make a little wreath to surround their door and added little bows from the same Christmas trim as I used to hang my decoration.   Everything except the glitter card, the red Christmas trim and green pipe cleaners can be found in the shop. You can find the -

              Tando mini birdhouse -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/tando-creative-chipboard-mini-3d-birdhouse-15345-p.asp

The Tando mini birds and branches-

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/tando-creative-chipboard-mini-birds--branches-27191-p.asp

Craft Consortium decoupage papers Merry Christmas-

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craft-consortium-decoupage-papers-merry-christmas-25860-p.asp

IndigoBlu holly stamp -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/indigoblu-dinkie-rubber-stamp-holly-flourish-24097-p.asp

Couture Creations Mistletoe die-

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/couture-creations-intricutz-die-mistletoe-25827-p.asp

Cosmic Shimmer paint -

http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-paints-644-c.asp

I really hope you like my Christmas birdhouse decoration and will give it a go. It would make the perfect project for children to do too

Until next time, take care,

Love Katrina x

 

Friday 10 November 2017

Remembrance poppy brooch

Hello, design elf Katrina here again to show you what I have been making lately.  Here in the U.K. it is Remembrance Sunday tomorrow. Every year I buy a poppy, as we all do, and the 5 mins later its fallen off. Over the years I have made myself different types of poppies and then just added my donation to the poppy sellers tin but I have never been 100% happy with them. So this year I tried again and this time I am very happy with them. I made mine out of felt but of course you could make them out of card.  
I used red felt for my poppy petals. The black if also felt, a half inch strip cut with pinking scissors and then gathered into a circle using a running stitch.
Each petal is pleated and then stitched in place. I then sewed the petals to each other. 
The black centre I stitched to the petals.
I finished it off with a button from the monochrome button pack.
Stitch a brooch back onto the back of your poppy to finish.
 
You can find the button packs here -
There are lots of different colour themed packs to choose from that contain black buttons. It would also be a lovely if you had a button from your family button box to use too.
 
Brooch backs here -
 
I hope you like my poppies. 
 
If you are wondering why three poppies, well one for me, one for my sister and one for my Godmother who admired my poppy last year but by then it was too late to send one to her so I sent one this year instead.
                                                  Have a reflective and peaceful Remembrance day.                                                                                                   Love Katrina x

Saturday 28 October 2017

Trick or Treat art journal page

BOO!! Hello! Design elf Katrina here with my last Halloween project for 2017. As I haven’t made an art journal page in my IndigoBlu Junk and Disorderly journal for a while I thought I would have some fun with a Halloween page.
To start I chose one of the white pages in the album and used some of the Cosmic Shimmer paints to build up my background. I like to use a baby wipe to paint with as it blends the paint automatically and of course there is no brush to wash after!
 
I wanted a large bright moon so I cut a circle out of a piece of scrap card and used it as a stencil using the paints through the hole.
 
The haunted house is a Tim Holtz die cut out of black card.
 
For my witch I took the Creative Expressions butterfly girl stamp set and adapted her slightly.
First I stamped her body and cut her out, cutting off her wings and pony tail.
Then I stamped her again for her dress which I cut out and stamped the swirly pattern over the top using IndigoBlu Tiny backgrounds.
I cut out a witches hat and bat wings on my Silhouette Cameo.
All that was left to do for her was to dress her up!
 
Now that the background was dry I stamped some of the pattern stamps in the Creative Expressions Butterfly girl stamp set onto the background.
 
I also stamped the tree from Visible image.
 
I then built up the page making a hanging sign with the sign stamp from Butterfly Girl and the Halloween strip stamps from Stampendous for the house. I also added some washi tape and some bats.
 
The lettering was hand drawn using a black pen.
 
If you would like to make an art journal the Junk and Disorderly journal is great for beginners. You can find it in the shop here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/indigoblu-junk-and-disorderly-art-journal-26811-p.asp
 
The paints here -
 
Butterfly girl stamp set for the witch -
 
IndigoBlu Stamps-
 
Stampendous stamps -
 
Washi tape -
 
I think that is all the products.
 
I have been art journaling for many years now so if you have any questions or problems I would be happy to help.
 
Until next time, take care and have a happy and safe Halloween
Love Katrina x
 

Tuesday 24 October 2017

Spooky Halloween House decoration

Hello, design elf Katrina here. Thank you for joining me today. Halloween is growing near and I have a Spooky Halloween house decoration to show you.
The inspiration for this Halloween decoration was the Crafty Individuals chipboard houses and trees. I really love playing with these and I have made a couple of different things with them, I will add links below but I have never made a Halloween House before.
 
I used two of the chipboard houses to make my halloween house. I glued together after I had finished the surface decoration on them I also used a piece of the fencing and one of the tree trunks. 
 
I wanted to use lots of different mediums on my house but to begin with I painted the house using the Cosmic Shimmer chalk paints. I used black for the roof and the tree trunk then a purple for the house and white for the fence. For the windows I used a light yellow so they glowed!
 
To make the roof more roof like I used the midnight glitter texture past through a stencil. Its very easy to do, just lay your template down and scrape your texture paste through the stencil using a pallet knife. Then lift the stencil off gently and wash the paste off your stencil and pallet knife immediately before it dries.
 
I used the same method for the house but this time I mixed some of the Cosmic Shimmer silk glitter into some of the clear texture paste to make my own colour.
 
For the fence I just smoothed on some of the crystal texture paste over the shape to make it sparkle.
 
Once Everything was dry I could build up my scene.
 
The windows just needed a little something more, so I used one of the IndigoBlu tiny background stamps with a grey ink to add a pattern then put them into the windows.
 
The little die cuts are from one of my own dies from Cuttlebug. I have had it for ages but there are plenty of dies and embellishments you can add to your house.
 
I also added some of the Cosmic Shimmer glitter jewels ebony ice to the bottom of my house to finish it off.
 
Now of course you could leave it there, put your house onto a card or box but I decided to set it on the moon!
 
I cut a moon shape and using the gold glitter paste added some stars from a star template. Then stuck my house to the moon and went around the edge with some black ink.
 
So, you can find the chipboard houses and trees in the shop here -
 
The paints here -
 
The texture pastes here -
 
Glitter -
 
Glitter jewels -
 
I did mention that I had used these chipboard houses before. You can find my projects links below
 
My little street -
 
Sunshine plaque -
 
 
Thank you for joining me today, please come back again soon to see another one of my projects for The Fruit Pixie.
Love Katrina x
 
 

Saturday 14 October 2017

Halloween brooch

Hello! Design elf Katrina here again with another project to inspire you.   Have you seen the new Disney buttons by Dress-it up in the shop? I think I am right in saying there is something there for everyone. One of my favourite films is “ The Nightmare Before Christmas “  so when I spotted the Nightmare before Christmas Dress-it up button set I had to have a play with them. You get lots of buttons in the set, Jack Skeleton and two of his heads, as well as Sally and Zero the ghost dog.    I have chosen to use one of Jack Skeleton’s heads and Zero the ghost dog to make these cute rosette style brooches.
These are so easy to make.
 
All you need is some black felt and orange ribbon. 
 
To make the Zero the ghost dog’s brooch I cut a strip of the black felt using pinking sheers. I then stitched a running stitch along the bottom of the felt strip. This doesn’t have to be neat, so you don’t have to be a good seamstress to do this.
 
Gather your felt up into a tight circle by pulling on your thread and then stitch the two ends together to form your first rosette.
 
Do the same for the ribbon piece.
 
Layer the felt rosette on top of the ribbon one and put your button on the top with the shank of the button poking through the hole in the middle of the two rosettes.
 
Stitch the button to the sides of the rosettes to secure. You won’t see this so make sure its nice and secure.
 
Cut another small piece of felt and stitch that as neatly as you can on the back of your rosette to cover the hole. You can then add a brooch back to the back too to make a sweet brooch for your bag or coat.
 
The smaller brooch made using the Jack Skeleton head button was made in the same way but I used a thiner ribbon and thinner strip  of black felt.
 
Of course you don’t have to stop at two rosettes, you can build them up using different ribbons, lace and fabric strips as you wish
 
I hope you like my brooches and will give them a go. If you have any questions or need help then you can contact me here or over on our Facebook page.
 
These and other Disney Dress-it up buttons can be found in the shop here -
Ribbons and lace here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/fibres-ribbons--trims-54-c.asp
 
Brooch backs -
 
I have a couple of other projects for the Dress-it up Disney buttons coming up so pop back again very soon to see what else you can do with these buttons.
 
Until then, take care 
  Love Katrina x
         

Sunday 8 October 2017

Have a batty Halloween card

Hello, design elf Katrina here to show you my latest project.    October sees the start of the busiest time of my crafting year. Starting with Halloween and then Christmas.    Halloween is not really celebrated here in the UK, even if all the shops try their best to convince us we do in order to sell us even more things. I love it though. We have a pumpkin lantern that hubby carves and then we sit and watch old halloween films and eat pumpkin soup. As I have been crafting for a very,very long time I have lots of homemade Halloween projects that come out each year to decorate our home.     So my project today is a sweet little card for Halloween
This is a stepper card using the backing papers from Craftwork cards. The main stamped image is by Stampendous called Halloween magic.
 
I painted the image using Indigoblu luscious pigment powders. These are beautiful powders that can be used in many ways. I just added a spot of water to a minute amount of the powder and mixed it into a wonderful pearlescent paint. 
 
I then added some cogs, to match her hat and some bat die cuts and finally stamped another of the Stampendous stamps to finish it off.
 
You can find the stamps I used here in the shop here - 
 
The beautiful luscious powders here -
 
Come back again very soon when I will have another project to show you.
 
Until then, take care, 
  Love Katrina x

Monday 2 October 2017

Craft Consortium decoupage papered covered box

Hello! I'm design elf Katrina, my job is to make inspiring projects with the beautiful things the Fruit Pixie sells and show them to you in hope you will be inspired to give the project a go yourself.    Today, I am going to show you a box I have covered with the beautiful Craft Consortium decoupage papers. These are not just normal papers, these are tissue thin but strong enough to be worked with then they are wet. They are very easy to use and very forgiving. I have used these sort of papers before on other projects, I will leave you the links of the other blog posts I have written at the bottom of the page. The papers I have used this time are the Tell the Bees papers.    The box I used I bought from The Works and is a wooden box. I prepared the box before I began by rubbing down the wood with sandpaper and then painting it with white gesso. I painted it white so the pattern and colour of the paper came through more.
The way I work with the decoupage paper is to cut it to size and then apply a runny PVA glue, I water the PVA glue down till it is like single cream, I paint the glue mixture on to the surface and also the back of the paper. Apply the paper to your surface, gently rubbing out the air bubbles if there are any and then paint another layer of the watered down PVA over the top. 
 
Once the box is covered with the decoupage papers and then left to dry. I then painted the sides and edges of the box with Cosmic shimmer paint.
 
 
For inside the box I painted it with Cosmic Shimmer chalk paint in a colour that matched the paper.
 
I wanted to add some interest to the lid of the box and the inside. I had made this box to keep my little bits of hand quilting and sewing in, so I used hexagons cut from the Tell the Bees paper pad. I inked their edges with a brown ink and when I had decided on the pattern I glued them into place. The hexies on the top are 1 inch hexies and the ones inside are 1.5 inch hexies.
 
Before I use the box I will add another layer of the PVA mixture to seal in the paper hexagons as it will get a lot of handling.
 
You can find the Tell the Bees decoupage papers in the shop here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craft-consortium-tell-the-bees-collection-715-c.asp
 
Cosmic Shimmer paint-
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-paints-644-c.asp
 
As I said I have worked with this type of paper before. Here is a post I did a few years ago using another of the Craft Consortium decoupage paper and a different shaped box
http://thefruitpixie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/07/craft-consortium-decoupage-paper.html
 
This post is showing my candle holder jars I made with the wood design Craft Consortium decoupage papers -
http://thefruitpixie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/craft-consortium-candle-jars.html
 
Do try this type of paper, it has so many uses and goes a very long way.
Until my next post, take care, 
       Love Katrina x
 

Friday 22 September 2017

Craft Consortium Tell the Bees hanging decoration

Hello, design elf Katrina here to show you my latest project using the Craft Consortium Tell the Bees paper pad.  First of all I must apologise for not posting a project for the past couple of weeks but I have been in Vienna celebrating my 30th wedding anniversary with my wonderful husband. Now though I am back and bursting with creativity.    So for this weeks project I have made a hexagonal hanging decoration using the beautiful Tell the Bees paper kit.
The decoration itself is a file I cut using my Silhouette Cameo electronic cutting machine but there are all kinds of decorations available to decorate.
 
I used the script paper from the paper pad to make the actual decoration.
 
I used a tiny part of one of the papers to collage the bee hives into the centre of the decoration. 
 
I then used a few of the wonderful sequins to add a little shine to the collage.
 
The little bees around the outside are also from one of the papers, you get a huge amount of bees on one sheet of paper!
 
On the other side of the decoration I stamped the hexagonal stamp a couple of times on the background. This is very easy to do as the stamps are clear, so you can see where you are stamping. I stamped this using the Distress ink Tea Dye.
 
I added some of the little bees that I had cut from the paper. I raised them up on 3d foam. Of course I had to use some of the sequins to add a bit of sparkle.
 
I also added a sequin or two around the outside of the decoration to catch the light.
 
This is such a cute little decoration. You can find all that I used in the shop
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/
 
I hope you liked my little decoration
 
I will be back again very soon with some more inspiration for you, until then,
 
Take care, love Katrina x
 
 
 
 
 
 

Monday 4 September 2017

Graphic 45 City Scapes Travel journal

Hello, design elf Katrina here to show you my latest craft project. For this project I have chosen to work with the Graphic 45 City Scapes papers.   For many years now I have made myself a travel journal for each of our holidays. I like to make them individual and somehow connected to the place we are visiting. In the next few days we are off to Vienna in our beloved Austria, to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary. When I saw the Graphic 45 City Scape papers I knew they were perfect for my Vienna Journal.
 
I made the base of my journal cover from stiff card, folding it so I had a deep spine to sew my pages in to.
 
I then covered the outside with the Streets of Dreams 12x12 paper and the inside with the Map the Past 12x12 paper.
 
I then decorated the cover using the collage pieces from the Global Odyssey 12x12 paper.
 
I like my journals to have something to keep the covers closed. This time I used a strip of double paper with a small magnet inside.
 
I added the place and year of the trip using die cuts.
 
On the inside cover I made a pocket from some contrasting card and then used the Impression Obsessions City Landscape layers die, which goes so well with these papers.
 
I also used the stamp sets to decorate the pocket and decorated the top part of the page with more of the collage pieces.
 
 
The first page of my travel journals are always and itinerary page and this time I decided to decorate all the pages using the wonderful stamps. I made a mask to use on every page that covered the middle part of the page. I could then stamp around the outside and over the mask so when I removed it I had a clear area in the middle to write my diary in.
 
For this page though I cut a frame to frame the itinerary.
 
For each of the pages I chose 2 different stamps to use to stamp around the edges using the mask to mask off the middle part of the page.
 
I love to collect all sorts of tickets and bits and pieces while I am away so I like a place to keep them safe. This time I decided to use CD pockets which I stuck to thin flaps I had sewn in-between each page. To decorate them I used some more of the die cuts I had made using the Impression Obsession Landscape layers die.
Some of the pockets I decorated using the collage borders on the papers.
 
All it needs now is to be filled with my Viennese adventures!
 
These beautiful Graphic 45 City Scapes papers can be found in the shop here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/city-scapes-698-c.asp
 
The Impression Obsession City landscape layers die, which are 2 separate dies, here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/impression-obsession-die-city-landscape-layers-26740-p.asp
 
I hope you liked my travel journal and will join me again very soon for another project.
 
Until then, take care, love Katrina x
 

Saturday 26 August 2017

Beach huts

Hello, design elf Katrina here to show you my latest project.   As it is August bank holiday weekend here in the UK, I thought I would share my beach huts I have made using the MDF tags. Of course your tags don't have to be made of MDF you could easily cut tag shapes from any sturdy card for this project.    
This is such an easy project to make.
 
First I drew around the tag shapes on white card and cut them out.
 
I then placed them on my Hougie board and scored every half inch to give me the look of horizontal boards.
 
I chose nice ice-cream colours from the Cosmic shimmer chalk paint and painted every other board. Then left them to dry.
 
 
For the doors I cut pieces of white card and again scored ever half inch but this time vertically, on my Hougie board. I cut thin strips of the same card which I stuck on to make the door surround. A little sticky pearl made a great door knob.
 
I glued the painted beach hut card pieces onto the tags
 
For the roof I cut strips of the same white card and stuck them on top of the painted tag shapes so they looked like a roof.
 
The roof trim was make the same way as the roof but I used a border punch to cut the patterned edge
 
Attach your door's to the middle of the beach huts.
 
Play around with the arrangement of the huts Until you have something you like and then stick them together.
 
This is the back of my piece. The holes make it easy to hang them up.
 
I then cut the word beach on my electronic cutting machine and stuck them on across the beach huts.
 
So there we have a nice summery home decor piece. I have mine hung on the wall but it can also just be stood up. Of course you can add little shells and bits and pieces you pick up on a beach walk to decorate your huts.
 
I used a Hougie board to do all my scoring. You can find them in the shop here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/hougie-board-13054-p.asp
I used the Cosmic shimmer chalk paint here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/cosmic-shimmer-paints-644-c.asp
 
I hope you are having a wonderful summer. Join me again very soon for another crafty idea.
Until then, take care
             Love Katrina

Monday 21 August 2017

Tell the bee's stamped card

Hello, design elf Katrina here to show you my latest project.   I have been using the Craft Consortium Tell the Bees stamp set to make this sweet card.
I used a white 5x5 card blank for the base.
 
I stamped the bee and the words Queen Bee in black in and mounted onto a piece of card from my scrap bag.
 
I then stamped the hexagon background stamp several times onto the card base using the scattered straw distress ink.
 
I attached the topper onto the card using 3d foam and glued the beautiful sparkley sequins on to finish the card off.
 
 
You can find the 5x5 card blanks, as well as many other sizes in the shop here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/5-x-5-card-blanks-508-c.asp
 
The Tell the Bees stamp set and sequins here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craft-consortium-713-c.asp
 
I hope you like my little card, See you again next time
Love Katrina x

Saturday 12 August 2017

Craft Consortium Gypsy Gypsy papers Toadstool house

Hello, design elf Katrina here again to show you my latest project using the Craft Consortium Gypsy Gypsy paper kit.   As soon as I saw these beautiful papers I knew I wanted to make a fairy house. I decide on the SVG Cuts Toadstool house box from their cotton tail village set to cut on my Silhouette Cameo.  
I cut all the pieces in white cardstock to make the box and toadstool more sturdy, then cut the pieces again in the Craft Consortium Gypsy Gypsy papers.
 
For the bottom of the box I used the beautiful gilded paper, which cut extremely well on my machine.
 
For the lid I used the glitter dot paper and then decorated it with one of the rub-ons that come in the paper kit.
 
 
The top of the toadstool I used the deep pink print paper in the kit and then covered the white spots with Glossy Accents crackle.
 
Of course they just had to have a pet ladybird cut from the flower paper.
 
 
The two little fawn fairies who live in the toadstool were from one of my digital kits. You can find lots of free pictures on the internet to use for them. I then used a deer die but just cut off his antlers to stick on their heads.
 
The flowers are all taken from the flower collage paper and I also added some dried moss to make it look like the forest floor.
 
The trick to making them stand up by themselves is very simple. I actually used the waste backing of the rub-ons but you can use acetate or anything see-through you have to hand. I cut it to size then folded in half. I then stuck my fairies on to one side and the bottom of the folded piece to the box so they stood up by themselves. 
I did the same for the flowers too.
 
All it needed then was a dab of glitter pen and a little door knob for the front door and their home was complete!!
 
I really hope you like my Fawn Fairy Toadstool house. It really was such fun to make and I am sure my friends would agree very me!!
 
You can find the Craft Consortium Gypsy Gypsy paper kit here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craft-consortium-paper-pad-gypsy-gypsy-26861-p.asp
 
I will be back very soon with another crafty project,
Until then take care,
   Love Katrina 

Monday 7 August 2017

Craft Consortium Gypsy Gypsy birthday card

Hello and welcome to The Fruit Pixie blog. My name is Katrina and I am The Fruit Pixies design elf!    Today I have a beautiful vintage style card to show you. It looks as if I have spent ages cutting and collaging but thanks to the wonderful papers in the Craft Consortium Gypsy Gypsy paper kit, it is an nice quick card to make.
The bottom right corner is a corner from one of the 12x12 papers in the Craft Consortium kit. So all you need to do is cut that out. I bubble cut mine ( not cutting out all the little details ) and because it is on a plain background it works well.
 
The card behind, where I have placed the greeting, is a glittered card. These come in a sheet of different sized and colour cards in the paper pack too.
 
I used scraps of the other papers in the pack to fill in the gaps. All the papers are double sided so you can use every scrap you have left one way or another.
 
To finish the card I added some flowers, again from scraps from the paper kit I have used to make other projects, in the top left corner and the bottom right and then added my sentiment which is a die cut.
 
You can find these beautiful papers by Craft Consortium in the shop here-
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craft-consortium-paper-pad-gypsy-gypsy-26861-p.asp
 
I was working on these 6x6 card bases, which are lovely quality - 
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/50-craft-uk-6-x-6-card-blanks-kraft-25999-p.asp
 
I hope like my vintage style birthday card, what will you be using your papers to create? I would love to know.
 
Until next time, take care, 
   Love Katrina

Monday 31 July 2017

Craft Consortium Gypsy art journal page

Hello, design elf Katrina here to show you my latest crafty project using the beautiful Craft Consortiums Gypsy Gypsy paper kit.This week I have created an art journal page.   The first thing that has to be said about this paper kit is just how beautifully presented it is. I have never seen a paper kit like this before and I have seen hundreds over the years. They have packaged it in a way that you can use every single piece of the packaging. The kit is a set of completely different type of papers, all 12x12 but some are partly glazed, some embossed and glittered and some with the most beautiful pearl finish to them I have ever seen. All are double sided and you get 4 of each design so you don't have to decide between the designs, you can use both. They all have a vintage flower, nature theme running through then but also have some plains in there too to compliment the floral. As well as the papers you also get a full 12x12 sheet of rub-ons and some collage pieces you can cut out yourself to add to your projects. If you like vintage florals you wont be disappointed with this kit I promise you. The only problem is making yourself take it apart and use it!   So after a lot of looking at it and stroking it I did make myself tear out one of the papers and use it. Here is an art journal page I created using the IndigoBlu Junk and Disorderly journal.
To create the page I used one of the brown sheets in the journal as I was going to use paper for the backing.
 
The backing paper is the duck egg blue embossed glitter dot from the Craft Consortium Gypsy pad.
 
I searched through all my digital kits to find a suitable face to use and sized it to the size I wanted and printed it out. There are lots of free images available on the internet for you to print out or of course you could use an image from a magazine or even a family photo. You just need a face you like looking sideways. Of course she has hair under the flowers, I just collaged over the top.
 
In the set of papers you get a sheet with postcards on one side and glittered cards on the other. I cut out some of the postcards and collaged them down the left hand side of the page.
 
Then I made myself a cup of tea, grabbed my scissors and a sheet of the flower collage paper and sat in front of an old film and cut them all out. I used half of the sheet and still had a fair few flowers over.
 
Once I had a nice pile of flowers I arranged them to cover her hair. Then I had the tricky job of sticking them down without moving them too much! 
 
I used one of the lace rub-ons along the bottom. These are easy to apply if you do it slowly. I find it easier to cut the design out of the sheet of rub-ons, then measure and cut the length you need. The problem with rub-ons is they react to the heat of your hand. So if you try to use them straight from the sheet you will get bits of rub-ons all over the place which can ruin your work and also waste these lovely rub-ons.
 So cut your piece, then lay them gently in place without handling them too much. I then rub my finger over the whole rub-on to help stick them in place. Then using something hard but smooth, a bone folder or just the back of a spoon is good, rub over the rub-on firmly but not too hard. These are very detailed rub-ons and you need to make sure you rub down every single tiny piece down. No matter how well you have rubbed it you won't of get ever single bit so whilst still holding the covering sheet in place, start at one end and slowly and gently lift the covering sheet up. As soon as you get to a spot you have missed stop and lay the covering sheet back down again and rub the missed piece. Then gently lift it up again and carry on. That way you will end up with a beautiful rub-on on your project.
 
To finish the page I added a bit of my Wink of Stella glitter pen.
 
You can find the Craft Consortium Gypsy, Gypsy paper kit in the shop here -
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/craft-consortium-paper-pad-gypsy-gypsy-26861-p.asp
 
The IndigoBlu Junk and Disorderly art journal here-
http://www.thefruitpixie.co.uk/indigoblu-junk-and-disorderly-art-journal-26811-p.asp
 
 
I hope you like my art journal page and this beautiful paper kit. I have lots of project ideas for the kit so come back again soon.
Until then, take care,
     Love Katrina