Tickets, tags and a little bit of twine…

It’s Louise again, which means it’s the start of a brand new month. Hope you’ve all recovered from the trick or treat adventures of last night.
This month I chose to work with A mix of Studio Calico Classic and Memoir, the Lily Bee Memorandum 6×6 pad, and the lush Tim Holtz Journalling Tickets. I like mixing manufacturers and the papers I used this month went perfectly together.

My first LO was created to document our new arrival… Dominic the Empathy Doll. I’m currently doing a course on how to use these dolls to promote children’s personal, social and emotional development, and so Dominic has come to stay at our house, whilst his mummy isn’t very well. The children have really taken to looking after him, and accepting him as part of the group.

I used kraft card as a neutral base for punched circles of patterned paper, and coiled twine stapled into place. I recently bought the Martha Stewart Pointed Circle punch and have to say it’s one of my favourites… it reminds me of the little chocolates in mini foil cases I used to get in my 10p mix when I was a child… lol!Part of my title was hand stitched, and I really like this effect, as it adds texture to the LO.
When stitching a title I first print it out in word in the font of my choice… this allows me to play with the size until it’s just right for the space I want it to fit. For this title I used the Fangtasia font.

Once I have it printed to the correct size, I use the old school tracing method to get it onto my LO. I use a pencil to scribble over the back of the printed title, making sure it’s all covered and I’ve pressed on quite hard, so there is enough graphite to transfer.

I then position the title where I want it to go on my LO, and use a pencil to trace over the letters, making sure I press on firmly.

This leaves a good print of the title on your LO.

I then use a needle or piercing tool to make stitch holes following the lines of the letters.

This makes stitching the title really, really easy. Here I use 3 strands of embroidery floss.

The second LO I have to share is of my not so little guinea pigs having a bit of cuddle time.

The browns and the oranges of the papers were just perfect for the pigs, and I love the blue paper I used as my base. I decided to keep this LO simple using strips of papers in a random order, with a ticket and a couple of punched circles tucked in between. The baker’s twine was used to create a frame around the edge of the LO, and some mini alphas were used to add the boy’s names.

The flower embellishment was really easy to make using a 1.5 inch circle punch.

Punch 8 circles from double sided patterned paper. You could stick two circles together if using single sided papers, but this makes the folding a little more tricky.