Sunday, July 31

Folk Art Basics Class

Some months ago I did a post about a decorative painting class that I was teaching in our village. Anyway, we're now about three quarters of the way through and the ladies in the class are doing extremely well with their paintings and their technique. These photos are of my Mum, who has been doing the class along with us, and were taken about 1/2 hour apart.


We still have a little way to go yet, but everyone seems to be enjoying themselves and there has been plenty of laughter... always important when learning something new!

There will be a few more photos on our new Community Centre blog if anyone is interested in having a look:


Saturday, July 30

Girl With Birthday Cake


Originally Designed: June 2011
Remastered: May 2021
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Friday, July 29

Not Beary Happy

Free Printable #161

To be honest, I've had this design for about six months but have been reluctant to post it for you. At first I thought this little guy was cute, but I soon came to wonder what his look of dismay was all about. He kind of looks as though he's been jilted, or perhaps he inhaled a bee while smelling the daisy! Anyway, I hope you can forgive me for making him look so mortified... I'd really love to see what designs and occasions you come up with for this little fellow.

copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Thursday, July 28

Birdbath Card

This is another boxed card created with the birds and birdbaths cut for me by my friend Penny. The window in the box was cut with a Nestability and then I attached a ribbon around the lid for decoration... it doesn't actually hold the box closed. The rest of the embellishments were created with punches and dies, pearls and glitz.

Tuesday, July 26

Sea Shell Card

I decided to join in on the very first challenge over at Stampy Land, a lovely new blog I was referred to by one of the ladies at Card Camp. This week's challenge was to create a card with the theme "A Day At The Beach"... nice and easy and definitely do-able.




I used an old Stampin' Up stamp for the image and coloured it with distress inks, deepening the shadows and recesses of the shell with black ink. I layered up two of the images with foam tape to give extra dimension, then embossed and cut the rectangle with a Nestability. The white cardstock was embossed with a cuttlebug folder and I also added some machine stitching around the edge of the second mat. The sentiment is computer generated, printed on the card before stamping and colouring.

Homemade Pie



Originally Designed: July 2011
Remastered: March 2020
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Monday, July 25

Technique Class - Notebooks

Today I want to show you how easy it is to make your own notebooks using left over notepaper or exercise books from the kids, a couple of pieces of cardboard and a binding machine.


Requirements:
2 thick sheets cardboard of the same size for the cover (mine is 5" x 8" but you can make yours larger or smaller. I also made a mini notebook measuring 2"x 4")
Notepaper
4 sheets lightweight cardstock in a single colour (I used cream)
Binding machine + bindings
Glue, double sided tape
Ruler, pencil, eraser
Scissors, craft knife, cutting mat
Stylus
Bone folder
Embellishments of choice
1. Make sure your cardboard pieces are the same size, trim if needed. For the cover you can use sheets of chipboard or even pieces of cereal box sandwiched together to create a thicker more sturdy piece of cardboard. (Remember to use acid free products if you are creating a photo album or photo journal.)


2. Trim the lightweight cardstock so that it is about 3/4" bigger all round than the cardboard covers. (Remember that 3/4" all around means your cardstock will need to be 1 1/2" longer and 1 1/2" wider than the cardboard). Use a glue stick to adhere the cardboard to the centre of the lightweight cardstock.


3. Use a stylus to score the lightweight cardstock around the edges of the cardboard. This will give you a nice neat fold when you are covering the cardboard.


4. Fold the lightweight cardstock over all the edges of the cardboard, pressing the creases well.


5. Use a bone folder to crease each of the corners following the contours of the cardboard. Do this for each of the four corners.


This is how each corner should look after creasing:


6. Fold the corners of the lightweight cardstock onto the cardboard as shown in the picture and secure with double sided tape or glue.

7. Use your bone folder again to press the creases and contours back in around each corner. This will give you a much neater finish.



8. Now fold up each of the four sides, securing with double sided tape or glue.



9. Cut pieces of lightweight cardstock that are about 1/4" smaller all around than the covers. (Remember that 1/4" smaller all around means your lightweight cardstock should be 1/2" smaller in width and 1/2" smaller in length than the covers.)


10. Round the corners of the lightweight cardstock if desired, then glue them securely onto the centre of the cover so that the cardboard is no longer visible. This will be the inside of the book cover.


11. Now you need to cut some notepaper to size. I used some exercise books the kids had left over from last year, reserving the cardboard covers for later projects! The notepaper inside your book should be the same length as your covers or very slightly smaller. Don't make the mistake of cutting them a lot shorter or you will find that the pages sag. The width is up to you - I made mine about 1/2" narrower so that I could put tabs in my book to divide it into sections.

12. Time to punch and bind! Follow the manufacturers directions for the particular machine you are using.

13. All that's left now is the decorating... and that's the fun part!


Photos and instructions copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Sunday, July 24

Birdie Apartments


Originally designed July 2011
Digitally remastered June 2018
Original artwork by Beccy Muir, all rights reserved. Images are for personal use and must not be copied, swapped, shared, resold or mass produced without the express written permission of the artist.

Friday, July 22

Boxed Birdcage Card

My good friend Penny very kindly cut out dozens of little birdcages, birds, trees and bird baths on her cricut machine for me. I used one of the cages and a few of the little birds, along with punched flowers and leaves, a Nestability, edge punch and embossing folder to create this boxed card. I added some Stickles, dimensional magic, pearls and ribbon to help break up all the white, without actually introducing a new colour.

Wednesday, July 20

Ribbon Embroidery

Free Printable #158
I love ribbon embroidery, from the way a completed stitchery looks to the process of actually sitting down and stitching. I really enjoy going on the hunt for the silk ribbons I want too, particuarly when you find skeins of hand-dyed ribbons that have a beautiful combination of colours in the one length.



copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Tuesday, July 19

Hibiscus

Free Printable #157

Hibiscus flowers are great for colouring since they have such large open petals. This first image I coloured using distress inks and a water brush. I don't think I quite managed to get the vibrancy of colour you'd typically associate with hibiscus flowers, but it's not too bad. The second image was coloured with copic markers, and while the vibrancy is there, I think it might be lacking a little depth. A few more shadows and highlights could probably fix that though. Anyway, have a play around with the image and different mediums and see what results you get. Have fun!



copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Sunday, July 17

Apple Basket

Free Printable #156
What could be more country than a basket full of apples and fresh apple butter? Enjoy!

copyright Beccy Muir 2011

Monday, July 11

July Christmas Cards

My Christmas card stash is growing nicely thanks to the monthly challenges at Christmas Cards All Year Round. We're just over half way to the holidays and I have well over thirty cards made and ready to send!


Thursday, July 7

Birthday Cards

I'm continuing the quest to use up some of my scraps... I'm sure they're multiplying in my drawer! This time I've stamped the same image on different coloured pieces of card, cut them into little squares and arranged them on a piece of white card. An accent colour in the background and a contrasting piece of ribbon brings it all together nicely.

Wednesday, July 6

Card Camp Turns One!

Our Yahoo card-making group - Card Camp - is turning one year old this month, so to celebrate we're all making cards with a birthday theme. I decided to go through my scrap drawer and pull out a variety of green patterned paper offcuts that I've been keeping. I arranged them in a rough circle and stitched over the top with some nice heavy cotton.





Tuesday, July 5

Bumble Bee

Free Printable #155

This is the funky little bee I used for yesterday's spinner card tutorial. I've also included a version I coloured with copic markers.

copyright Beccy Muir 2011