Want to go for a ride?

I love the style of this old-fashioned bicycle.  It's one of the chipboard die cuts available at DIY Design Studio and it is a lot of fun to use.  

My first idea was to try and distress the image with ink.  The StazOn is good for distressing chip board because it's permanent and dries quickly.  It just wasn't the look I wanted today.  So I decided to paint them instead.  Perfect for my project.

I liked the gold bike so well that I decided to paint the other one, too.

I added some rhinestones just to blint them up a little bit.

For the gold bike, I chose the Life Time pad of Prima paper.  You've seen me use this one before.  It's one of my favorites because of the range of shades and splatters.  They are beautiful papers.

I needed a piece of paper 6 x 4 1/4.  I opted to make the darkest section the body of my card and then use the part with the sentiment as a layer.  

I added some light brown ink to the edges of each piece so that they stand out once they were pieced back together.

This paper pad has a sheet of tags and embellishments.  I wanted to use a mini brad on the mini tag.  I could have used the cream color but it matches the paper a little too much.  I painted it the same gold as the bike to pull it into the card more.

Because the bike is chipboard it really stands off the page.  Foam adhesive squares hold the little embellishments up off the page to balance that out.

Card one - great for a note card or special occasion.  But it's almost Christmas and the other bike is red, sooooo...

I painted some chipboard snowflakes white to go with the second bike.

I found this piece of snowy scrapbook paper in my stash and added a washi tape sidewalk, then glued on the chipboard pieces. 

Products Used:

Die Cut Chipboard Bicycles

Die Cut Chipboard Snowflakes

Inks and/or Acrylic Paints

Adhesive Gemstones

Prima Life Time paper pad

Dimensional Foam Squares

Double-Sided Adhesive Tape

Glue

Scans of each card

Bee-ing Happy Creating a Journal for a Friend

Bee-ing Happy Creating a Journal for a Friend

Recently I attended a workshop with Cheryl Boglioli Gel Press Ambassador where we used the Gel Plate and a Sizzix Travellers Journal Die to create a fun journal. I wanted to make another journal having purchased the die to share this method and idea with a friend who I know loves bees as I had just brought a magazine that included a Bee die. I thought this would be perfect to share for our Die Cut Theme this month.

I worked with honey tones of yellow and orange paint along with white and black to decorate the covers of my journal by layering paint on my gel plate and taking prints and starting with the darker tones working to the light tones, subtracting the paint of various layers from the plate using stencils etc. including a hexagonal pattern to represent honeycomb.  My first layer was black.

I kept layering on color with my Gel Press Plate and Stencils until I was happy with the look of my inside and outside covers.  Any excess paint I had on my brayer I painted over a page in my journal with.

Once I was happy with the look of my journal covers I constructed my journal gluing the two halves of my die cut journal together.

I created signatures using bee patterned paper in a PAPER COLLECTION and Watercolor Papers.

   

To finish my cover I die cut 3 bees out of glossy black card stock and stamped out the sentiment BEE Happy on a white piece of paper in black ink and then proceeded to cut this out before coloring it yellow with a Paint Pen.  Using the same Paint Pen I outlined some of my honeycomb/hexagonal stenciling.

Now it's just a matter of fastening the signatures in place inside my journal and adding a band to keep my journal held shut working with elasticized cord weaving it through the allocated holes.  This style of binding I love as it requires no stitching.

I will hopefully have the binding completed and some pages decorated to share with you next time.

Danie xx

Spooky Altered Bottle

I am in love with the entire DIY scene! I have scads of empty glass bottles in my garage just waiting for an opportunity like this:

Dixie Belle Chalk paint is perfect for covering glass bottles. A little Grunge Glaze and some embellishments are all it takes.

Ciao for now,
-Trish Alger

Ready for Fall?

And it begins!  Seems like when September hits we begin seeing a flurry of activities that doesn't stop until New Years!

• Back to school activities 
• Fall Holiday planning
• Football weekend entertaining
• Hostess gifts for parties
• Create menus for gatherings
• Make and mail cards
• New outfits and party clothes
• It makes me dizzy!

We sure can help with some of the items.    Darling and inexpensive hostess gifts begin with upycled glass/mason jars and chalk paint, tie with a ribbon and Voila!

created by 'Hop to it'

OR how about a darling personalized shelf sitter using wood blocks with papers and embellishments....

created by Jean Moore

All made so easy and beautiful with Dixie Belle Chalk Paints at our store.   Please visit to see some great products.

WWW.DIYDESIGNSTUDIO.COM

We have a weekend special of 10% off your total order...

USE COUPON CODE LABOR

Almost September!

We really are getting into Fall and that means celebrating the beauty and fun of Fall andWinter Holidays.

Here are some items you may want to try without fantastic paints and accessories.  We will have MORE kits soon in the store, you get wood, paint(s) and brush, some include stencils with instructions.

created by Amy F Wagner

Fun Stuff by Emily Jeremaison

Made by Stephanie Berger Sydnor

UPCOMING KITS for wood coffins, pumpkins, Trees and more!

See the website for some awesome gift ideas and DIY solutions.

WWW.DIYDESIGNSTUDIO.COM

New Colors and a VIDEO

GRAY, GREY, no matter how you spell it, its a HOT color right NOW.

Mason Dixon Gray

Summery and cool colors to tone down the heat!

Gulf

Works great on metal, glass, wood, fabrics. WOW!

ORDER TODAY and get a FREE sanding sponge!

(valid through June 22, 2016) 

See this informative video....

...how to DRY BRUSH 

for a fantastic effect.