Sketches, sketches everywhere...

One of the best things about living near Papermaze is seeing the same people who love scrapping as much as i do...i am going to introduce you to one of them...


'Hi, my name's Lou and I am married with two children. I have been scrapping for about 15 months now and I go through many different 'styles' whilst looking for my 'signiture' one! At the moment my two favourite are vintage & shabby, and bold, bright & masculine...totally opposites! I've been on a few online Design Teams and done a bit of work for UK magazines but more recently I have been enjoying having the freedom to scrap about whatever I feel like in my own time!'

Together the two of us came up with some sketches for you and put some pages together for you to see. When looking through you will see that all though we both had the same sketches the pages come out sooooo different!

First sketch...
Here are our pages to go with the sketch...

The next sketch...

The next one...

And the last sketch...

Thankyou Lou for giving us some gorgeous pages to look at...if you have a go of any of these sketches email them to me at wendy@bbbweb.com and i will add them to the blog so we can all see.

BasicGrey Sugar Rush

I received these wonderful new papers and wanted to get the most out of using them. All of these projects are so so easy to achieve negative space is a must to get the most out of your papers for these projects you can make them look more effective as i have by using alot of stamping and layering i am sure there be alittle something for all of you to try .

The first card i have used the free stamp that comes with this months issue of stamper magazine sold in the shop i am sure you cant all wait to play.

when begining to make the layouts cut different size strips of patterned papers roll the edges to give them more effect try using a corner punch to give some of the strips striking shapes.

yet more Minds Eye!

and there are still 2 collections of the New Minds Eye that has not even been shown here...

But today i have been playing with the line called Mary Mary..all i can say is cute cute cute!!!
And perfect for these photos of me and my son that i took at the weekend!

It is full of pretty pinks, blues,yellows and greens...
These thickers!!!
are in the shop and are due to go up on the website soon...they are sooooo cute, chipboard which has little hearts on them, they are in white, red and pink...keep an eye out for them they are a must have!

New Minds Eye...

And there is so much of it...all gorgeous...seriously i had the hardest time picking some to chose to show you...i wanted it all! every last piece.
I am a pattern paper lover so My Minds Eye is one that i always look out for after the new lines have been released bacause it is a pattern paper lovers dream!

The first line i am going to show you is called The little Miss Muffet collection and you can find it here.
Seriously, what is there not to like about this one!!!
just perfect ( if you ask me).
Anyway i grab some when i popped down to Papermaze yesterday...went home and went straight into my scraproom...
after much searching through my photos i came across this one of me and Harry when he was 1 day old..horrible photo of me but i had been in labour for 3 days so i do have a good excuse!!! lol.
Dont you wish the summer would come so all our photos will not look so dark and depressing!!!

Anyway i wanted to use the left overs from this line so i went ahead and created a card as well...
Seriously gorgeous line...

Simply does it with Prima

I was so excited about receiving these papers from Prima. They are so beautiful. Each piece has so much detail. But then when I got them I was quite stumped. I struggled to use them as I liked them so much and just didn't want to cover up the papers too much. I've ended up going 'simple' to show off the design. It's made me realise that you don't have to always fill a LO with misting, stamping, embellishments. Sometimes less is definitely more.

I've started off with my favourite cardstock, Kraft.
I've taken a piece from the Prima, Animal Bash range. Cut it to size and inked the egdes.
I've used a journal card from the My Minds Eye collection. If you haven't seen these, go check them out. They are only 39p and great to use. There are lots to choose from too.
I've added a little Chipboard Tree - from Maya Road which I've also inked and added my title using American Craft Thickers.

Basic Grey Nook and Pantry

When I first caught a glimpse of the Basic Grey Nook and Pantry line, I knew that this was a collection I would have to get hold of! The theme of tea and cakes alongside slightly retro floral patterns would be perfect for some of those seventies photos that can be so difficult to scrap. I decided to make use of the range when it came to scrapping this - one of only about three photos from the wedding day of my parents back in 1975.

Mum was only 18 and Dad 21 when they tied the knot, and it was a very low-key affair, a far cry from some of the lavish parties that people plan for their weddings today. And yet Mum and Dad, despite choosing to get married in flared trouser suits at the registry office, travelling there in the back of Grandad's Ford Cortina and having the 'reception' in Nan and Grandad's front room, have managed to clock up 35years of married life together. Which just goes to show...

I decided to use a template to cut a scalloped circle from a piece of pale cardstock, then backed this with some coral coloured floral cardstock. I stitched two circles using coral coloured thread on the scalloped shape, one large and one small to locate the journalling, then punched a scalloped circle for the centre, which I also stamped with a clock to represent the passing of time. The clock is only attached with a brad, so can be spun around, giving the layout an interactive element.

The cakes were carefully cut from another sheet of the cardstock, and foam pads were used to attach them and give them a 3d effect. I made the title using American Crafts chipboard Thickers and some Making Memories tiny alpha stickers. Finally, I used some 7gypsies stickers in the bottom right-hand corner to give the layout an overall balanced look.

The sugary colours and cake motifs are perfect for the celebratory layout, and help to draw out some of the lighter tones from an otherwise quite dark and damaged photograph.

Love Struck winner..

Sorry for the wait for the winner, I haven't been near a computer this weekend!! But, we do have a winner, as you can see on the screenshot below (although there were 71 comments, there were some duplicates so I took these out):
Congratulations to Ceruleanblue - drop us an email to vanessa@papermaze.co.uk and we'll get your prize sent out :) Thanks to everyone for taking part.

Keepsake Card

It's my little boy's 8th Birthday. I like to make my children a special card each year that can be kept. Something nice to look back on. So this is what I've made this year.
I've used the delish patterned papers from Prima. This range is just so beautiful, you really don't actually need to add to much to it. I've stamped the edges, added a few metallic stars and printed his name. The 8 has been cut on my craft robo and glossed, but any thickers can be used instead.

Then inside, I've used the reverse side of the prima paper to match and printed off random facts about my birthday boy. You could even add a photo if you wished. These cards are great for Birthdays, Christenings, leaving or starting school, Anniversaries etc...
Easy to make and lovely to keep.

A little giveaway...

Following on from Wendy's posts last week, I thought we would have a little Making Memories giveaway. We have a set of Love Struck papers, plus matching Bazzill cardstock, word fetti stickers and a few matching embellishments. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post! You have until 7pm Friday and we'll then choose a winner at random.