Please welcome...

...Natalie to the Papermaze blog! She is our latest guest designer and we are thrilled with the layouts she has come up with - so many neat little ideas too! Natalie is training to be a teacher and has been scrapbooking since September 2006. You can check out her blog at http://www.iscrapthereforeiam.blogspot.com/. We sent her some Doodlebug papers and KI lace cardstock, and have a look at her four beautiful layouts below!

Park Life

This simple and clean page is perfect for when you really want your photos to be the focus of your layout.
I cut the scalloped cardstock down 8 x 10.5 and mounted it onto 8.5 x 11 of black cardstock to give it a border.

I used a strip of the pink doodlebug paper to ground my photos, which I’d edged with black stazon to help give them a little definition. I dissected some of the rubons from Basic Grey. I found because the designs were quite graphic I was able to cut them and rearrange them as I wanted on my page to compliment the design of my layout, whereas maybe they would not have fitted as they came in the pack. I further embellished the rubons using the flowers and brads.

Brads also helped draw attention to my title, which I created using Making memories glittery alpha stickers. For a final playful touch I added the three little rabbit rubons from Daisy D’s.

Beach Bums

For this busy page, I decided to utilise the lace cardstock from KI Memories to make a clear page. I cut the lace card down to size, and then mounted it onto a sheet of printer acetate to give it stability. I then inked some of the words that were relevant to the theme of my page.

I used strips of lace, the pink Doodlebug paper and the kraft coloured cardstock (which I had given a scalloped edge) to ground my photos. I used the 7Gypsies journaling card as a mat for my title, which I created using a mixture of letters including American Craft foam Thickers.

I cut individual paisley designs from the Doodlebug papers, and using 3d foam created dimension embellishments for my page. I also added 3d gloss to some of the layers on the paisley embellishments to add some texture and shine. I coupled these shapes with buttons and flowers to create a visual triangle around my photographs.

Books

I began by cutting the kraft coloured cardstock down to size, and placing a large piece of the paisley Doodlebug paper along the left side, leaving an equal border around it. I then added a narrow strip of the brown Doodlebug paper along the bottom as a mat for my photos, which I had inked heavily with brown stazon to give them a distressed, worn feel.
Again, I cut the Basic Grey rubons into a custom design to fit the space on my page. This time I embellished the centre of the flowers with crystals cut from the bling border.

I also used the crystals along with brads to add points of interest along the top and side of my photos to keep your eyes moving through the design.


I used a large scallop punch to create a journaling card from the kraft coloured cardstock and inked the edges to define them. I created the title using vinyl Thickers from American Crafts. They were pink, but unfortunately had a salmon-tinge to them which did not suit the colours in my page. I overcame this by inking them with the brown stazon which worked perfectly to recolour them with a little of the pinky tones coming through. This created the perfect leathery feel to compliment the idea of books handed down from generation to generation.

Bringing Up Baby

I began this page by cutting the pink doodlebug paper down to size. I gave the central area a light wash with some pale pink paint to act as a mat for the rest of my page.
I decided to transform the brown Doodlebug paper into a label-shaped journaling spot to ground my title and journaling. I did this by cutting the shape from the paper and using the pink paint and a black sakura glaze pen to create the border.

I used a scrap from the white scalloped cardstock along the lower part of the page, adding some doodled stitching to help tie it in to the other black elements on the page. I then added my photos and created my title using foam letters and rubons by Love Elsie. I typed my journaling on my computer and cut each letter into individual tabs, and added the brads to the white letters to create texture and interest.

To embellish my page I added buttons topped with crystals cut from the bling border to the flower centres, and placed each flower on top of a swirl cut from the Basic Grey Rubons.