Corner keepers

Hi! Design Elf Katrina here. First I have to apologise for not posting here for so long. Life has just been getting in the way of my crafting recently, I am sure you know how that feels but I think things have settled down a bit now and I have been able to get back in my craft nook again.

    So what have I been up to, well I love all the wonderful ephemera The Fruit Pixie brings us, thanks to Sarah- Jane's skill of finding those little gems, so I have used some as well as some paper scraps we all keep to make what I call corner keepers.

   I have been making these for years, they are a fun quick little project that would be lovely to slip onto a corner of a book you are giving as a gift or use in recipe books to mark you favourite recipe or anywhere really. They are also great little projects to keep children busy.

They are very easy to make. All you need is an old envelope and something to decorate you corner keeper.

First draw the shape you want, I used a template for my heart. You just need to make sure the corner of the envelope is in one piece when you cut your shape out, as long as you do that you can make any shape you wish.

You can make 2 out of each envelope, I made the heart and simply cut the corner off for the other one.

Then all you need to do is decorate them

For this one I cut the fairy from one of the pieces of ephemera and then used a star punch to make a little stencil to apply Cosmic Shimmer sparkle paste through. I  added a little of the paste to her wings and dress too. I cut out a dictionary entry to finish it off.

For the heart one I used a scrap of the Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar papers and added another dictionary entry.

You can use anything to decorate them as long as its flat.

This is a great way to use up all those scraps and there are always envelopes you can recycle too!

Hope you will give it a go

      Happy Crafting!

                                     Love Katrina

File tab card

Hi there, design elf Katrina here again with another cute idea using the Couture Creations Tabbed journal die.

  Whilst I was making the little book last week -http://thefruitpixie.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/mixed-media-mini-book.html - I thought it would make a cute little card.

   I cut the card using the die so it became a shaped card and then used the wonderfully cheerful Graphic 45 Bohemian Bazaar 8x8 pad, which has some lovely little journalling cards inside too that made great toppers. Add some Washi tape and of course buttons and you have a cute little card.

  Here's how I did it -

To make the shaped card take a plain card blank or fold your card in half ( I have inked my fold so you can see it easier ) Then place the fold as close to the left hand cut line as you dare but not on the cut line or you will end up with 2 die cut pieces, which is fine but isn't the effect we were aiming for.

Then run it through your die cutting machine, you could tape the die to the card if you are worried about it moving. You should then have a shaped card. This can work with all sorts of dies, just watch where you place the fold.

I then covered the front with one of the journal card from the Bohemian Bazaar 8x8 paper pack. The journalling card was slightly small so I just added some Washi tape to the top to fill in the gap. The off cuts from the card and the Washi tape, which you can also cut using the die to get a perfect fit, I used to decorate the little tab at the side.

To make the little flags I took 3 different Washi tapes in colours that matched the paper and a piece of bakers twine. I cut strips of Washi tape and folded then in half over the bakers twine so the twine was sandwiched inside the flag. I did this at regular intervals along the twine and then cut little triangles out of the bottom of the flags and then stuck the first and last flag to the card. I then chose some buttons from the brights button collection to match and stuck them to the flags. To help the flags stand out a little more I added some pen lines using a black gel pen.

To finish off my card I stuck another of the journal cards inside the card and cut a strip of Washi tape in half to cover the gaps.

My card was finished.

Hope you like my bright happy card

  Happy Crafting

                             Love Katrina

Mixed media mini book

Hi, design elf Katrina here.

              Where better is there to be on a cold day than snug inside your craft nook! That's where I have been playing with this little mixed media book I made out of lots of pieces of the fantastic ephemera the Fruit Pixie is famous for finding for us.

The base of the book I made using the Couture Creations decorative die tab journal tab die. Here is how I created it;

 For the cover I covered a piece of card with the book paper on both sides then cut the cover and repeated it for the back cover. I then used a slide mount from the slide pack and part of a botanical watercolour and some buttons from the darks collection. I also added a definition from one of the dictionary pages from a vintage book pages pack. I bound the little book using bakers twine

 TIP- the die only has 3 holes but if you want to make it into a book cut the shape out and then turn it over and put the card diecut back into the die and the recut the part with the holes so you then have 6 holes!

For page 2 I cut the page from a post card from the assorted postcard set and added some Washi tape and a cigar label.

Page 3 was a botanical print that I traced over with my white pen and added some of the Washi tape.

Page 4 had book pages and Washi tape for the background, I then also used a ticket from the tickets pack and a tea card. I also added a definition I found in the dictionary page. 

Page 5 also has the book page as the background to which I added a tea card and a hand written word.

Page 6 has a background made up of bus tickets from the tickets pack and then i just added a tea card and a Cigar wrap.

Page 7's background was made up of Illustrated post marks and then I just added another tea card.

That is my book!

I hope I have given you some ideas of the many things you can do with the ephemera the Fruit Pixie sales. 

This little book would make a cute scrapbook for a gift or as a brag book.

 So why not try something different in your crafting and have a look at ephemera in a different way!

If you have any questions I would be happy to help.

Happy Crafting,

                Love Katrina

Puzzle piece heart

Hello, design Elf Katrina here. So sorry it has been a while since my last post but unfortunately my Mum had been in hospital for a while and so visiting took the place of creating, but she is home now and on the mend so I can return to my craft nook.

     As we all know Valentines day is fast approaching and so I thought I would start with a nice Valentines project. Of course this would also make a lovely wedding gift for the bride, you could put all the wedding details on it or even something a bit different for the bridesmaids to carry.

My heart is made up of the pieces from the Vintage mini jigsaw puzzle set, I used 2 sets for my heart. I did make a base heart shape to stick the pieces too out of card.

I painted the pieces while they were all together on the back using first some Gesso and then I used the Cosmic shimmer matt paint in orchid, tuber rose and nude.

I then added some texture by using the nude paint through the special touch mica mask - doodle damask.

Once everything was dry I added the puzzle pieces to the card base and added words I had cut from the Vintage book pages ( if you cant find anything to fit your theme you could just print some out on the computer) 

I then added some finishing touches, outlining the puzzle pieces and adding a bow from some of my own ribbon and a button from the cream button assortment, a key from the Creative expressions fancy key charms pack, a Tim Holtz metal word tag and a little tag from the Jewellery tag set which I coloured and added some hugs and kisses !!

So there it is, a puzzle piece heart all ready for Valentines day!

Happy crafting

                          Love Katrina

Button Ball

Hi Design elf Katrina here again with a cute project using buttons.

      The Fruit Pixie has, in my opinion, the best button packs out there and so I wanted to make something using them. Here is what I made, a button ball!

Now this is so easy to make, it takes a little time but it is something you can do in front of the TV.

You will need the buttons of your choice, a polystyrene ball, some short pins and some seed beads. 

Then all you need to do is place a button on the ball, take a pin and add a bead then push the pin through the button and repeat untill the ball is covered. Just a little tip - don't push the pins in straight, push them in at a angle an they will stay in.

The ribbon is also just pinned to the ball.

I chose to use the cream collection but any of the button collection would work a treat!

I hope you like my button ball and will give it a go yourself

                                                                       Love Katrina