A mini travel journal...

You know how you take so many photos on holiday which you fully intend to scrap? But somehow, there are so many that the process of selecting which ones you actually want to create a whole layout with seems almost too daunting. You keep putting it off. And in the end you start to forget some of the memories you wanted to record in the first place!

Thats where travel journal's come into their own. In the last couple of years I have made trips to various places in Italy, and fell in love particularly with the city of Florence. But I haven't got round to scrapping any of the photos yet. So when I was sent a Basic Grey chipboard mini album and the gorgeous Dream Street Art Nouveau range of papers, I knew that I would use them to make my own little journal of memories and images of the trip.

I started by working out the order of my pages, which photos to print out small, how much journalling I wanted to write, what embellishments I would use. I decided to blow up some of the photos from the trip to create whole pages on their own which I would write mini subtitles on using paint and gel pen.

I wanted to create an aged look, so I used files and plenty of paint to distress the edges of the album. I found an old copy of a map of Florence on the internet which I printed and tore into sections to add interest to my pages. I also used my favourite stamp to add detail.

The flowers are by Prima, and I added extra embellishment with buttons from my own collection. I used a mixture of black and white pens for my journalling, to ensure it showed up on the different background papers. The title on the front page is housed in a bookplate which I distressed with paint.

I'm really pleased with the finished result - I love going back to look at the photos and the whole album is really tactile and inviting.

it is new...

It is gorgeous, and it is selling really quick guys, so get in quick!!!

Here is the new Jenni Bowlin products!!! i dont think i have words for how much i love this line!!!

How to - Scalloped edges...

One of the many questions that i get asked is how do i make my scalloped edges. It is really easy and after a few tries, you can do it all the time and add some extra detail to your page.

First off you need a corner rounder. There are several on the market, but the ones i like are from EK Success, because they do corner rounders in so many different sizes and this will give you options for the sizes of your scallops.

First thing you have to do it take of the guard. You cannot make scalloped edges without taking the guard off.

Next place the punch up against the edge of the paper that you want to use. You have to do this upside down so after you have done one you can match the edges up.

THis is what you will end up with

Then line up the punch next to the first punch mark and punch again.

Keep going until you have the desired effect that you were after.

You can do this on the edges of circles as well.

So there you go really easy and quick. ANy questions, post them in the comments section and i will answer them. :)

New in store now!

There is soooooo much new stock coming into Papermaze at the moment, i thought i would just give you a few highlights of it all.


First off the new Scrapbook Magazine is in. This one is special as it has a free cd in it with 150 fonts ( that is alot) and me being a font junkie will be getting this one. It also has 160 pages of inspiration and ideas and 7 photo - editing programs.
SO this looks to be a really good one.

Next up is new Making Memories. Now i am a huge Making Memories fan and i really love this little alphabet stickers. They are in store now and are in several different colours... Black lettering on white, mixed,pink,teal and white on black.

The new Making Memories Jack and Ella Animal crackers spiral journaling notebooks are here. All i can say about these are just YUM!!!
And one of my favourite Lines of products EVER is in the house. Jenni Bowlins stuff is
fantastic in style and design. It is an outstanding product line and i am buying every single piece of it.

Here are just a few pictures of the new lines in stock, so pop along to the New Product new section on the website to check out the rest.






Also dont forget to check out the special offers section on the website. We currently have 7 Gypsies clear stamps on offer. Normal price - £10.99 our sale price is £7.65. SO grab them while there is some left.

Our latest winner!

We're a bit late with posting the latest winner of our blog competitions, due to some technical problems, but better late than never! And here it is - a beautiful sunny layout by Sarah Hancock! Well done Sarah, drop us an email and we can sort out your prize!

sisterly love

i started off by cutting my patterned papers to my proffered sizes once they were glued into place i added my photos and the strip of ribbon.Then using the stencil i pierced the outer pattern then stitched in red thread once this was completed i doodled a pattern for my photo to be mounted on then stamped the lettering.To finish off the layout i added my chosen embellishments lettering and stamps.

Blog offer!

Have you seen the new American Crafts albums?! They are covered in corduroy making them very strokable! We have a huge range of albums from this company, they are very popular and we've just taken delivery of not only the new corduroy albums, but the cloth covered ones too, in D-ring and postbound, portrait and 12x12 sizes.

So, just for our blog readers we have a special offer - you can save 15% off any American Crafts album for the next week! Simply add in the code ACBLOG in the coupon box when you place an order online, or quote it when you pay instore. When ordering on the website, you won't notice any difference in the price to pay, but we will make sure we deduct it from your credit card charge, or refund appropriately for paypal payments! You can find all the albums here!

7 gypsies

i started off by cutting the green card stock to my proffered size placing the half flower behind it.Once glued into place i cut a circle with the patterned paper and taking a strip off the second paper gluing them into place i added the photos mounting the one in the frame to overlap the first.I then added my lettering doodling and my chosen embellishments to make the page complete.

Bo Bunny!

This month I was sent a range by Bo Bunny, called Teen Chic. The papers are quite bright and funky, so I decided to use them for this layout celebrating my sister's bubbly personality.

I started off by using paint to dry brush all round the edges of some black cardstock using two shades of pink paint. I then cut about 5.5 inches of the green paper and positioned this on the cardstock, layering a 2 inch strip of the stripy paper horizontally over the top of this. Next, I positioned my photo on the page.

After I had positioned my photo, I used the pink paint to cover areas of the layout, which would later form my journalling space. You don't need to be too neat with this as the layout is supposed to be quite grungy. Once this was dry, I cut sections of the KI memories lace cardstock to create a flowery border around the left side and bottom of the photo.

I then positioned my title, cut from white cardstock, and used this to help me draft my main section of journalling, which I wrote out in pencil first before going over with pen. I then used circular chipboard coasters to draw dotted circles randomly around the layout.

Next, I handcut flowers from one of the other patterned papers, and positioned them on the layout, using ribbon to form flower stems. I drew a fine line around the title lettering to make it stand out. Finally, I added photo turns to act as decoration and lead the eye into the photo on this very busy page.

Basic Grey Boxer

I was sent some of the new basic grey boxer range to play with this month and this is the LO I created


And this is how I did it

Cut cream cardstock to 8.5” x 11”

Next I stamped 7 gypsies stamp on to cream and red card and cut both out

Then i mounted my photo 3.5” x 4” onto red card

Then I cut a section of the tattoo rub-on and rubbed on to the cream card stock in the bottom right hand section of the card

Next I tore a strip from the oxford paper approx 1” wide and 7” long and inked the edges with red ink. I stuck this strip just above the highest point of the rub-on.

Then I stuck the mounted photo onto the page and stuck the 2 7 gypsies seals overlapping the photo and the rub-on

Using a large ink pad I lightly pressed the ink pad on to the card to the left of the photo

Next I cut a rectangle measuring 1.5” x 2” from skinny jeans and wide tie papers, then overlaped these pieces of paper and stick by side of photo.

I then added my title and sub title

Then I finished off the LO by adding some flowers, buttons and bling and inked the edge of the LO with a red ink pad. I also inked the cream flowers to help make them stand out.