Photoplay Paper - Holly & Ivy - Ho Ho Ho

Hi everyone!

Claire here today with another fun festive layout using the Holly & Ivy collection from Photoplay.

I'm loving creating with this collection. The colours and patterns are so beautiful and the ephemera includes so many adorable pieces as you'll see in my layout. Let's jump in...! 

I started with a piece of Premium White cardstock and lightly applied a coat of Gesso to prime the surface as I knew I wanted to add mixed media. Whilst it was drying, I cut four large snowflakes from the Noel paper. This is one of my favourites in the collection - a gorgeous traditional red tartan - a pattern I really enjoy at Christmas. I cut my snowflakes on my cricut but you could replicate the design with any large shapes of your choosing, perhaps using dies or hand draw for that extra special hand crafted feel.

Once the gesso had dried, I grabbed some gold watercolour paint and applied it with a brayer, mostly in the centre of the page, but also created pols of colour top right and bottom left to act as an anchor for some clusters i'd be adding later. I also added some random background stamping using a stamp from my stash. You can find similar in the shop here.

I mounted my photo three times to pull in those pretty patterns and colours from the Holly (a and b sides) and the Santa Supply Co papers, and adhered the photo on foam to the centre of the page. Around the sides, I added my snowflakes, sticking just the centre to the page so I could lift the edges to create dimension.

Using some of the Element Stickers, I added fun centres to the middles of the two main snowflakes to help them stand out. Next, I just had to use that gorgeous Christmas lodge sticker and the fun Ho Ho Ho title, placing them around my photo corners to draw the eye into the picture.

With my final snowflake, I cut it in half, placing one top right and the other bottom left. To the top, I made a small banner from the 'This house believes' sticker and adding an eyelet and string.

To the bottom cluster, I  added some foliage, a candy cane and green snowflake sticker pulling in all the colours of the collection.

As a final touch, I added some tiny star stickers from the Element Sticker sheet across each cluster in both red ad black, and sprinkled some gold Pinkfresh Studio Gold Jewel Essentials.

I hope you've enjoyed my posts with this beautiful collection. Don't forget to check it out in the shop here.

All that leaves is for me to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Claire xx

@scrappysoulmate

Mintay Papers - Christmas Blessings - Dear Santa

Hello, Karen here with another layout using Mintay Paper's Christmas Blessings collection. The photo I chose to scrapbook is of my husband when he was a child and I think the photo has quite a timeless, vintage vibe to it. If  you like creating projects with a vintage vibe, Mintay Papers are perfect.

I started by printing my photo to the exact size to fit in front of the window printed on paper #1. Using a craft knife I then cut into the printed picture so that my photo would slip into and become part of the picture.

Paper #1 (complete with my photo) was then trimmed down slightly and layered onto a sheet of paper #4 and then paper #3 leaving narrow borders around each. I like the effect this gives and it also introduced a little more blue to the layout.

Using one of the pieces from the Paper Elements Pack I then created some 3D stars to embellish the layout with. These are really easy to make with a 5 point paper star and a scoring tool. There is a good tutorial on how to make these here on the Doodlebug blog. They are quite addictive and you'll soon be adding them to your layouts.

I stuck the stars to my layout in clusters using some wet glue and once the glue has dried they held their shape quite well.

For the title I added some wooden words from Mintay's Chippies Christmas Words. I chose to leave the  words in their original raw state rather than colour them, as I thought they went well with the colours in the papers.

Finally I added some computer printed journaling strips at the bottom of the layout, and some wood veneer stars and sequins from my stash.

Hopefully this layout has inspired you to scrapbook your Christmas's past and I'll be back again soon with another layout using the fabulous Christmas Blessings collection. In the meantime I hope you have a lovely Christmas and a very happy and healthy New Year.

Take Care,

Karen x x

December Papermaze Kit - Part 1

Lynn here today, I can't quite believe it's already time for the Christmassy December kit. This month's pack is full of traditional style, Christmas papers, embellishments and Bazzill cardstock. Red, white and green with gold are the main colours presented here.

Here is my first pair of layouts, both depicting my granddaughter's first Christmas:



Before we look at how each layout was created, here is what you will find in the kit:

Patterned Papers:
49 and Market - Evergreen Season collection - Ceremonious Poinsettias
Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Yuletide collection - Holiday Wishes and Filled with Wonder
Carta Bella - A Vintage Christmas collection - Holiday Floral and 3x4 Journalling Cards
Vicki Boutin - Wrapped in Ribbons collection - #5

The photo below shows both sides of the papers:

Embellishments:
Vicki Boutin - Wrapped in Ribbons Acetate 6cm strip, Prima - From The North Pole 2 lines of chipboard phrases, 2 Holly Berry stems, 6 ephemera pieces and 3 flowers, Rosie's Studio - All Wrapped Up - Puffy Word Stickers, Strip of gold pearls, 12 sequins.

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Natural and Pomegranate Splash (in Main Kit). Aspen, Quartz, Parakeet and Grenadine (in extra Bazzill pack).

Believe in the Magic - This layout shows Florence in her sparkly ruby slippers and Christmas hat.

I started this layout with a scrap sheet of 12" x 12" paper, over this I created the background using two papers from the kit. The top 8" is covered with Holiday Wishes and the bottom 4" is Wrapped in Ribbons #5 including the manufacturer’s strip, the red bows were perfect for Florence's ruby slippers!

I used a Martha Stewart border punch and some white card to make a lacy strip with I added to the page above the row of bows.

Next, I arranged the photos, left to right, top to bottom overlapping one-another. The two smaller photos were matted with some red metallic card. Then I made three tags using the Sizzix Framed Tags Thinlits die set, and white card. I inked the edges of the tags with Festive Berries Distress Ink. Using red and green metallic card I cut the reinforcement rings for the tags using the same die set.

On the largest tag I created a title with Red and green metallic card, and the Sizzix Bold Text Christmas Set. I cut this twice and mounted it creating a shadow. Green jute twine was tied through the hole in the tag, and once the tag was stuck in place, the tails of the wine were looped and glued in place.

The medium size tag was used for a little more detail, and for this I used AC Foam and cardstock Thickers - Sugarplum Wishes. The smallest tag was used for the date and I created this with more metallic card and the Sizzix Alphanumeric Tiny Type sets, both upper and lower case. Once these were in place, I looped some read jute twine through the holes and attached it in the same was as before.

Finally, I added three chipboard phrases from my stash.


Oh, Christmas Tree - Florence picking her first Christmas Tree!



I chose the Ceremonious Poinsettias paper as the background for this layout, and blurred the centre of the pattern with some white acrylic paint.

I printed my photo and placed it in the centre. With the Sizzix Woodlands Thinlits set I cut the two different trees, twice in Aspen Bazzill and twice in Parakeet Bazzill. Four trees were arranged either side of the photo, expanding the tree display across the page.

I topped each tree with a large sequin from the kit, stitching in into position with gold metallic thread.

I selected and cut the 'Oh, Christmas Tree' title on the Cricut, the base was cut in cream cardstock, and alternate letters on the word 'Christmas' were cut in gold metallic card. I placed this below the photo.

With embellishments from the kit I added holly and poinsettias to either-side of the title. Finally, the date was added with AC Foam and cardstock Thickers - Sugarplum Wishes.

That's all from me for today, I'll be back with more from this kit soon.
Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Let's 'Shake it Off'!! Here's My Taylor Swift Journal

 Good Morning!!

I'm so excited to share this one with you today.

I love turning these Little Golden Books into journals.

It's just so much fun.

I have a video here if you'd like to watch how this came together.

This time I'm using a Taylor Swift book.

A friend of our's went to 2 concerts this Summer so I thought it would make a perfect gift.

 And I made charms to add to the spine too.

They are such a fun addition.

And I love to add bits and pieces to pop over the top.

To make the pages inside I was inspired by the 'Our Happy Place' collection from Echo Park.

You can see the collection here.

I used this piece here to make lots of flips and pockets inside.

Then I could add them individually.

This one has a piece of clear tape at the top so it flips up and there's a journal space underneath. 

Here's some other examples how I used them.

And I love this sticker sheet here.

I've added some stickers on a few plainer pages to spice them up.

And look how pretty these papers are too!

And I also cut some of the larger stickers in half to add to the sides of the pages.

I like adding fun trimmings too, like I added some lace along the bottom of the page.

And I added lots of pom pom trims too.

I hope you like this idea and it inspires you to make a gift this Christmas too.

lots of  love

Lisa x 

Photo Play Paper - Holly & Ivy - Merry Christmas

Hello,

It's Claire, sharing a fun festive layout using the gorgeous Holly & Ivy collection from Photo Play. 

I love a traditional Christmas colour scheme and this is full of reds and greens with lots of beautiful patterned paper. 

For my first layout though, I'm starting with a mixed media background, made by adding watercolour paints to my Premium White Cardstock with a brayer. I applied the ink in several layers so as to create darker pools and greater contrast, being careful to let each layer dry before applying the next. 

Once dry, I also splattered lots of gold ink and then again left to dry. 

In the meantime I cut down two patterned paper panels from the B side of the HoHoHo paper.

I layered these to anchor my design, placing the photo on top. Each layer is adhered with foam, creating extra depth and dimension.

One of my favourite patterns is a bold candy stripe, so I cut a strip of Santa Supply Co paper and created a fishtail. For that extra bit of bling, I held it in place to the other paper with a gold eyelet. Really love this extra bit of detail on the page.

Next, I reached for the Element Stickers and used these to create small clusters around my photo. 

To add that extra pop of festive cheer, I also added the sant a hat directly to my photo - it was a risk, but I absolutely love how this elevates the page and feel it really helps embed the photo into the layout.

As a final touch, I added some gold Nuvo Drops to the edges of the papers and sprinkled a few small snowflake stickers across the design. 

I hope you've enjoyed this blog post and wish you all a very happy holiday season! Enjoy! 

Claire xx

@scrappysoulmate

Mintay Papers - Christmas Blessings - Merry Christmas Bootiful

Hello, Karen here again with another layout using Mintay Paper's Christmas Blessings collection. This collection is beautiful and the colours, whilst not traditional Christmas colours, are perfect for scrapbooking Christmas memories.

I started with a sheet of smooth white cardstock and a sheet of paper #1 and layered them on top of each other with sheets of kraft cardstock between. Then with some white thread I machine stitched round the edges.

Next I took 2.5" wide pieces of papers from the 6x8 Add-on Paper Pad and cascaded them across the layout, overlapping them slightly and staggering the tops and bottoms.

I printed my photo three times in different sizes, matted them with white cardstock and layered them on top of the patterned paper pieces with 3D foam underneath to raise them up a little.

There was a space at the bottom left of the layout, so I added one of the tags and pockets from the Paper Elements pack and threaded some jute twine through the tag top.

In my stash I found an old chipboard phrase thicker and used this together with some small puffy alphabet stickers from Pinkfresh Studio to create the title.

Finally I fussy cut some stars, snowflakes and cookies from paper #9 and the Paper Pad and used these to embellish the layout together with some sequins and some tiny wood veneer stars.

I do hope you like this collection and I hope I've given you some inspiration for Christmas scrapbooking. I'll be back again before Christmas with another layout using the Christmas Blessings collection.

Take care, Karen x x