Another Accessory Holder – This time for Bex

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A promise is a promise.

Everyone needs a girly night now and again, in the same way that everyone needs a Pyjama day every so often. And we have been talking about it for a while now, but never actually got any plans in motion. So Bex and I made a deal.

She would be in control of organising a girly night full of popcorn, chick flicks, and giggles and in return I would make her one of the jewellery holders which she had been hinting at ever since she saw the first one I made for myself, and then again when she saw the one I made for Andie last month.

When I started to plan this one, I wanted to try something a little different, as the last two were the same shape and size. For Bex, my critera was ‘stars’, but as I was going to be using this theme to embellish, I wanted a simple geometric shape as the base – so I settled on an oval. Of course i needed the bottom edge to be straight in order to use my Bind-It-All and the wires, but I am really happy with the end result.

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Creating a fun ‘sunburst’ effect backgound

I want to share a fun technique with you to show you how I created this fun background which almost resembles a sunburst. All you need is a few sheets of coordinating pattern paper. The paper I have used here came from a Spring Paper Stack from DCWV. I love these stacks of paper because usually all the sheets coordinate or at least the pack has a group of papers within a similar theme or colour palate. Whats more, they also have duplicate pages of the same pattern. I find this fantastic, because if you are anything like me, you end up drooling over pretty paper to the extent that you don’t want to use it incase you regret it. Its silly, but its sometimes true.

To make this background, first you will need to use a repositionable tape runner to adhere the first page to a craft mat. Next stick the second page on top of the first, once again using repositionable adhesive. You don’t need to completely cover the back of the page, but I would advise sticking the edges, and also running a line horizonally at one thirds from the top and from the bottom.

When you have all your papers stacked and glued on top of each other, you can begin the cutting. If you wish to be exact you can sketch some lines on a scratch piece of paper then stick this on top of the pile too – but I quite like the effect of the free drawn lines. Pick a point in the centre of the page to be the origin of your sunburst, and using a sharp knive, cut a wavy or straight line out to the edge, making sure that you cut all the way down through each page. Repeat this until you have cut all the wavy lines you want, being careful that the pages down move, stick the top layer to the mat with masking tape if you need to. Once you have cut all the pieces, peel away each layer, and then reassemble the jigsaw of pieces onto your project, alternating the pattern paper for a cool effect. The best thing about this technique is that if you use three different types of pattern paper, then you actually have enough ‘jigsaw’ pieces to create three backgrounds! Awesome huh?

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Here’s another peep at the layout I made a year or two ago when I first used this technique – I even used the same pattern papers this time because I loved the finished result so much. Ironic thing is that this layout is about a night out with my friend Bex – but a different Bex.

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Enjoy, and Bex – I hope you like your gift!

And please leave me a comment here – I love to read them all.

Here’s all the fun products that I used to make these two projects:

Bind it all Machine by Zutter
Chipboard sheets
Bind it all wires
Chipboard letters from Dovecraft
Chipboard shapes from Dovecraft
Eyelet
Chipboard flourish by Bisous
Star outline stickers by DoCrafts
Heidi Swapp Acrylic stamps
DCWV Spring Stack
Buttons from Early Learning Centre
Ribbon
Studio G acrylic stamps
Brads
Ink