Project: Crafted Filofax!

I must confess that I've never been into Filofax, because I found them too bulky for my handbags. But, one day, I saw the Filofax of a colleague on her desk, a cute Songbird, so I decided to take a look at Filofax UK. And guess what? I fell in love with the bright red Adelphi and I couldn't resist the temptation to make an early Christmas gift to myself! Here it is

When I got my hands on it, I was thrilled with the color, the size, the softness of the leather, I just loved it as is!
Hmm, maybe not exactly as is...but then again, you know me! The fact is that it needed a little something, so first step, I decided to make my own content dividers. So I printed some images in BW and colored them with my copics (sooo predictable!) Here they are, this is the first section with the diary:

 And here are the tabs I made so far, they were in a Moleskine diary, I just stuck them on some clear acetate and adhered them on the back of the pages with Glue Dots:

Second section for birthdays, anniversaries etc:

 Next section, Tasks:

Bills to pay (I could live without these, LOL!):

 Shopping list (I could use a whole Filofax for this alone, I have to be ready for the day I'll win the lottery!!!)

And last but not least, books to download:

On the back there's vertical pocket and I thought to put a Moleskine Volant inside, for random thoughts, sketches, etc, but they were either too small or too big, so I experimented once more (what's life without  burned eyebrows, LOL!) and I ventured to make a litlle book by myself. I just cut some photocopy papers, folded them in two, arranged them randomly in bunches (one inside the other), sthiched the "spines" and then adhered them to a thick cardstock piece that I had already stamped, embossed and varnished. The whole process took me about an hour and the result is simple because it is the first one and didn't want to spend too much time and materials on a thing that could end up in the garbage. Here it is:

And here's the back pocket:

 It sits perfectly inside, because, as you can see below, the rings are really small (it is a Slimline, the rings are smaller than the standard size) and there's enough room for a notepad:

And that's about it, I haven't so far customized it the best possible way because I want to use it a while first and then figure if I want to add or remove something.
Last details (in case you wondered) the small pen is a Pilot Petit and the backround is an gorgeous scarf I bought from Marks & Spencer!

PS:I thought to share with you that Filofax Italia currently has sales!

Update: Here's the blank template

Project: Lavender letters and green butterflies Bracelet

If you liked THIS bracelet, here's a new one:

I made it for a friend who likes subtle colours and I thought light purple and green look well together. I don't have any inks in purple, so I just used pink and blue distress inks.

This is how I made it:
1. I cut a strip of plain grungeboard at 1'' 1/4 wide
2. I covered it with thin white paint and let it dry
3. I colored it with randomly with blue and pink distress inks using the foam applicator, I varied the intensity of colour because I didn't want a uniform result
4. I stamped the butterfly with black ink and then heat embossed it with a Ranger's Holographique embossing powder
5. Then I masked the butterflies and stamped on it with the Hero Art's Old Letter stamp and blue distress ink
6. I colored the butterfies with a mixture of Perfect Pearls and Mat Medium and added the pearls
7. Then I covered the lot with Gloss Medium, I also used Mat Medium underneath it, as a sealer
8. Last step I added the fastener and adhered the cutout butterfly on it.

 And she can wear it with the closure upwards or on the inside, as shown above.
Now that I see it again, maybe I should make one for myself too!

Project:: Shadow frame

I bought a couple of shadow frames at IKEA, so I used one right away for a photo of my niece (who else???) 

The photo is from Karpenissi, where she rode a horse with her mother, for the first time and he was sooo thrilled!

What I did in order to acieve a 3d look is that I printed the photo twice and then I cut out from the second photo my niece and the head horse and adhered them on the whole photo with 3d foam dots. You can't see it here, but it really made the difference.

Then I adhered the photo on a white cardstock and colored on it so as to "expand" the view and then I added the decorative pieces, they were adhered on 3d dot stacks I made and I also varied the depth.

Here I colored the front piece of a horse drawing and adhered it on the project right next to the back of a real one that was in the photo, so as the horse will look whole. I aslo added some glitter on the mane.

I made the "branches" by stamping with the same stamp on various cardstock and paper pieces, and then accented the flowers with Stickles and...ready!

Rania's Layouts: July 2009

Here's a summer layout I did a few days ago, when my brother brought me the photos from their 2009 vacation - better late than never!
The background paper is K & Company, the seashells are stamps from a Hero Arts clear stamps set, I also used some glossy varnish for some shine. The title was cut from a piece of foam pad and I colored the letters with my copics. I also wanted to add something like a net for fish, so I used a kind of tulle I had, I just colored it with a copic in order to achieve the color I wanted.

For the flower I used a stamp from a StampTV stamps set, after coloring it with my copics I heat embossed it with some UTEE and moulded the petals in shape before it was completely cold. Then I added a few of Martha Stewart's microbeads, on top I adhered a foam dot and on top I positioned a charm that I had colored with a copic and then heat embossed with UTEE (this way the color will not fade).

Last touch some free hand doodling with a white pen and...ready!

Card Making: Summer 3d card

After a long fun summer with a few technology hiccups with no apparent reason:
1.laptop crashed and I had to perform something despicable that starts with the letter F, (that is FORMAT, raise your hands in horror!!!)
2.internet connection got lost in space for about a week
3.photo printer decided to stop doing what it's supposed to do, that is to print
4. memory card mysteriously lost all content 

I felt courageous enough to touch my keyboard without being afraid that it will decide to spontaneously combust just for fun (LOL!!!).

It's been a creative summer nevertheless, and here's a happy birthday card I made for a friend of mine:

 

It's a cute Sarah Kay stamp, the rest is just the ordinary, you know, inking, stamping etc I also ventured to add some shine and maybe I overdid it a bit but as they say there is no such thing as too much bling!

Here's a side view:

That's it for now, hope you're all well and busy crafting, see you soon!