Sunday 30 March 2008

Fancy pants...

Over the last week there have been many boxes arrive at Papermaze. And yes i have been there for the opening of most of them. But one of my surprise favourites has been the new line from Fancy pants.

I have to say the photos you see below do not do these pattern paper justice, nope not at all. You just cannot see the gorgeous colours and the fantastic patterns.

THis one is my favourite of all the papers, an idea i have in mind to use it is with circle photos!! i have yet to try that ,so i will show you when i do.

The colours are just gorgeous and the circles are perfect, in fact i picked up to pieces, one for using in whole and another to use for cutting up the circles.

I also love the fact that they have put flowers on a boy page. I am a big believer that flowers are not just for girlie pages, but they do have a place on boy ones as well.

The pages below were done with the About a Boy range from Winter CHA.

To give the circles more texture and depth i stitched over the top of the bigger circles. I also cut out part of the circles on the base pattern paper and then slid the next layer of pattern paper underneath.

And then added bling because it just fitted with this paper.




Dont forget to check out the new product section as there are always new products going up and word has it some BIG boxes are on there way and should be here soon with some very gorgeous stuff inside!!!

Saturday 29 March 2008

Have you tried Chipboard Letters?

Most of us like to include a title on our page, but if you don't want the hassle of handcutting or the mess of stamping, a chipboard alphabet is often the easiest (and cleanest!) method for incorporating lettering into our layouts. Below I will show you three projects where I have made use of chipboard letters.

First up are the Basic Grey undressed chipboard alphabets. These come in a wide range of styles and are provided as 'raw' chipboard - this is a sort of grey colour, which usually means you will want to embellish them in some way to match your page, although I have also seen scrappers use them in their 'naked' state to very good effect. Basic Grey also sell die cuts in the same shape as the letters to theme with their paper collections, although you could also cut your own paper to cover them, ink them, stamp them, or do as I have done on this layout and paint them.


Next up are the chipboard alphabets by Scenic Route - they do a great range in a few styles and plenty of gorgeous colours that tone in with their paper ranges. If you want to know exactly which colours will go with a particular Scenic Route paper range, visit the manufacturer's site which gives you suggested matches. I have used a white alpha here in its plain state, which makes a striking contrast with the cardstock background (the stamps used on the page are by Autumn Leaves, which I have both stamped directly on the page, and also used to create raised embellishments).

On this little mini album/card which is intended to be a birthday gift, I have used the chipboard and the surround to create a cute monogram with the recipients initial on the front. This couldn't be easier, as Scenic Route chipboard letters come with a precut square around each letter, allowing you to use the letter itself and the reverse if you wish.


Hopefully this will give you some ideas as to how to use some of those chipboard letters, and of course there are loads of other methods too. Another method I have successfully used in the past is to use the chipboard letters to draw around, as well as using them as a mask for paint, as seen on this layout I created some time ago which uses Basic Grey mini monograms.

Thursday 27 March 2008

And the winner is.....!

So did you find all the Easter Eggs?! We had a great response to our egg hunt and lots of you emailed in your answers. So, here are where the eggs were hiding:
Mon: Technique Tuesday, Beautiful Day acrylic stamps
Tues: EK Success, Cruella De Vil stickers
Wed: BasicGrey, Wilma Chipboard letters
Thurs: Autumn Leaves, Bohemian Rhapsody rub-ons
Fri: 7 Gypsies, Louvre paper
Sat: BasicGrey, Pheobe Coit Tower paper
Sun: Autumn Leaves, Bella buttons

And our winner, whose name was picked out of a hat by my dear husband is..........
Lesley Collins!!! Congratulations Lesley, a box of goodies will be winging it's way to you shortly!

Wednesday 26 March 2008

Competition time!!!!....

Yep guys it is that time again!!! And this time we have something different for you. I have spent the last few days looking through flickr . And i have come across soooooooooo many gorgeous things to give me inspiration.

But this one caught my eye.

Isn't it just gorgeous!!! i am going to have to go down to Papermaze and buy me some felt!!! lol.

so that is it, that is all you are getting!!! Take from this picture what you want, the colours, the circles, the stitching, the frame, it is entirely up to you. You can make a page, card, altered item, whatever takes your fancy!!!
Personally i am going to buy aload of felt, copy this and frame it and put it on the wall in my scraproom and then i am going to use some of the ideas on it to make a page!!! lol.

You have until the 9th of April to send your creations to me using the email address wendy@bbbweb.com. The winner will receive a collection pack of their choice of the new BasicGrey!

I cannot wait to see what you come up with. Have fun xxx

Monday 24 March 2008

Happy Easter!!!!

Did you all have a wonderful easter??? how many easter eggs did you eat??? and most of all how many photographs did you take???

Me, i took nearly 200!!! now that is alot!!!
SO if you are after some easter products to scrap your easter pictures here are some pages done using the Scenic Route Lynden line, which as you know is their easter line.



I stitched on the Prima flowers and added a little flower from the doodlebug paper frills
and then added a little gem.






I hope you enjoyed the egg hunt!! i know i did, and dont forget to email Vanessa your answers!!

Sunday 23 March 2008

And finally!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you are having a lovely relaxing day and haven't eaten too many chocolate eggs! Today we have the final clue in our egg hunt for you. Once you have the answers to all seven clues, email me (vanessa@papermaze.co.uk) with the product title and manufacturer for each day's egg. You have until 7pm Tuesday night to email your answers, and one person will be drawn at random from all those who answered correctly. They will win a box filled with all sorts of goodies, including some of the latest CHA releases!

So here it is then, clue 7:

Sally Preisig provided the original voice for which colourful children's television character?

We hope you have enjoyed our Easter fun - thanks for taking part, and happy hunting!

Saturday 22 March 2008

Clue 6

Glad you enjoyed the picture clue yesterday! I thought we'd stick with the buildings theme today, so are you ready for clue 6??! Here it is!

Arthur Brown Jr, and Henry Howard designed which building in San Francisco?

Happy hunting!

Friday 21 March 2008

Have you been waiting???

I know i was. After seeing all the pictures that i saw of the new Love Elsie i was not prepared for how scrummy it was actually going to be in real life.

The pinks and the purple are just gorgeous and as usual the backs of the papers are just as gorgeous as the fronts, so it was a hard time chosing which side to use.


You can find the Love Elsie papers here. The one's i used are.....

Claire's first kiss
Claire girl time fabric paper
Claire gossip paper
CLaire sleepover paper

For this page i wanted to use these gorgeous ribbons so i cut the base cardstock in half , then using a hole punch i then punched holes down the edges and tied them together.

The lettering on here is American Crafts.

In this page i first cut around this paper from making memories for the outside.

I used Autumn leaves stamps on acetate for the frame. The butterfly and the flower rub ons are American crafts.




There are still more new products and examples to come so check back and i hope you are all enjoying the clue game. And i hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Something different!

I hope you're keeping note of where you're finding the eggs! Only 3 more to go! And for today's clue we have something different - it's a picture clue! Here it is!!


Happy hunting!

Thursday 20 March 2008

Half way!

Time for clue number 4! Have you managed to find the other 3? OK, without further delay then, here it is:
This song has been the UK's Christmas number 1 twice!
Happy hunting!

Wednesday 19 March 2008

Here's the next one!

Clue number 3 that is! The egg is in place now it's up to you to find where it's hiding! Here's your clue:
Who is Pearl Slaghoople's daughter?
Happy hunting!

its here!! its here!!

Basic Grey is in the house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay yes i may be a tad excited but it has got to be one of my best and favourite collections they have bought out yet!!!

So here some pages done using the Sultry line. There are some gorgeous papers in here.




And these are done using the Cupcake line, which is the birthday line. Take my word for it there are some gorgeous papers in this line.






The happy birthday words on this card are from the sticker set!!

Stayed tuned for the latest clue for the easter egg hunt, and some more samples of some new product that i know is in the shop as we speak.

Tuesday 18 March 2008

Clue number 2!

Are you ready to get your thinking caps on again?! Egg number 2 has been hidden on the site all ready for you to find! All you need now is a clue - so here it is:
"if she doesn't scare you no evil thing will."
Happy hunting!
Evey month at the Papermaze crop Vanessa puts together a page kit to buy. There is always a new technique to learn and the kits go really fast, but there are always some kept back for the blog readers to buy. click here and it will take you to the page on the shop where you can purchase them.

Here is Vanessa's page...




And here are the instructions for the page..

1. Start by tearing a piece from each of the Upsy Daisy papers, measuring 9" x 3", then tear into a point at one end. Ink the edges of both pieces with Burnt Sienna chalk ink. Put to one side.

2. Cut out a freehand circle from the piece of chipboard, approx 8cm diameter, then cut the inner out. Paint this with tattered rose distress crackle paint and leave to dry to one side to dry.

3. Take the Bazzill cardstock and place the rectangular doiley down the left handside. Using the burnt sienna, brush the inkpad over the doiley and through the holes.



Make sure you ink over the ends too! When you have finished, remove the doiley and continue inking the edges of the Bazzill all the way round.

4. Arrange the Upsy Daisy paper pieces as shown on the layout, then place the half round doiley vertically on the right of the cardstock. Place your photo on top as shown. Stick the ribbon down the right edge of the photo and stick the brown button at the top.

5.Take the painted cardboard circle and lightly rub over the top of the crackle paint with tea dye distress ink ( i put the ink on to a tissue then applied it to the circle). Place this on your layout, then cutout the section of the circle that overlaps the photo, and stick the remaining piece down. Add the bling above the top of the circle as shown.



6. Draw a white line round the edge of the heart and attach the small piece of pink ribbon round the centre and tie in a knot at the front. Stick into the middle of the circle.

7.With a white pen doodle in the gaps of inked doiley.

8. Place your chipboard letters round the top left of the photo then draw round them with a white pen.


Finally cut two circles from the leftover papers, crumble them up and ink lightly over the top and round the edges. Stick the small one on top of the other. Sick in the top right hand corner of the layout and doodle wound with a white pen.



After the crop i took one of these page packs home and had a play with it. Here is my pages using the kit.

1. Attach the round doiley to the right handside of the cardstock.

Then cut out one of the pieces of Upsy Daisy paper to the size of 13cm by 15cm and then using some ink, ink round the edges.

Attach to the page as seen in the picture.

Then cut out another piece of pattern paper to the size of 21 cm by 14 cm. Tear of a small strip from the bottom and then attach to the page as shown.

I printed out my 3 photos size - 9cm by 13 cm and stuc then to the page.

I then cut out 2 stips of pattern paper one longer than the other

Strip one - 1cm by 11 cm.
strip two - 1cm by 21 cm.
Then cut the small pink ribbom just a bit longer than the longer strip and attach.

Adhere these to the page as shown below.

Then using the long stip doiley cut out the larger flowers and ink the edges.
Then make 3 poises following the photos below.






Attach them to the layout as shown in the photo below.

Then use the last bit of pink ribbon and cut them to the size -

ribbon one - 2m
ribbon two - 5 and a half. ( roughly)

Then attach to the top 2 poises as seen below.

Add your title and journaling



You can buy the kits on the Papermaze website. If anyone from the crop has done this kit, send in your photos and we will publish it on here.