Xmas Tipple with Simple Stories

Hello there everyone!

I (Kim) would like to share a page with you which I created with the help of the fantastic Simple Stories papers. This manufacturer has been around for some time now and their designs are made in such a way that your pages are put together in a doddle.

This page came together within the matter if 15 minutes and I think the most time I spent on one single thing was to cut the banner from the papers. With the aid  two different sized circle punches, I removed the "date" circle from its outer lines and adhered them separate from each other to the background for added dimension.

Before I started adding the cut outs from the Life Documented, Life is Good and Journaling Card Elements #2 to the cardstock, I added some stamping to the background with one of my favourite Kaisercraft stamps.

To finish the layout off, I doodled a frame around my main cluster of papers and added some flowers and pearls.

Bo Bunny meets Simple Stories

hi..., Kim here with you today to share how easy it can be to mix and match papers from different manufacturers.

This month I have been playing with Bo Bunny's Et Cetera and Simple Stories' Life Documented lines and they are just so perfectly combinable with each other, it's almost spooky!

I started off with an 8.5 x 11 sheet of white cardstock and gave it an aged look by spritzing some "home-made" walnut spray onto it. If you have an empty spray bottle and one of the Distress Ink Reinkers from Ranger Industries, just add some water and a few drops of the reinker to your empty bottle and you have a perfect walnut spray.

I then cut a few pieces of paper from Bo Bunny's Et Cetera Cut Outs and Symphony, as well as Simple Stories' Life Documented and layered this randomly onto the cardstock.
The final touch was a piece of trim onto which I added a sentiment using adhesive foam pads.

And there you have it - a mixed manufacturer layout

Sale update

Although we are putting all our energies into packing parcels at the moment, I thought I would spend a few minutes to give you a little update on the progress of our sale, and address some of the issues that keep cropping up.

So far we've packed over a month's worth of orders in 2 weeks, so we're getting through them! However, the bulk of those orders were received on the 6th and 7th November. This means we are slightly behind our estimated despatch rate at the moment. We are aware that originally we didn't state a delivery time - we were not expecting to be as overwhelmed as we have been. The subsequent estimate was simply that - an estimate, and we would like to thank everyone for being so patient with us. Most of the orders placed on 6th have now gone out, just one or two outstanding.

Each order is picked and checked before it is processed and any refunds are worked out - this can be quite time-consuming itself. We had one order today that took 2 hours simply to pick. We are working in a space half the size we're used to, but we have extra help every day.

I generally go through emails in the evening - if you have emailed and not had a reply, please re-send it - we've had over 5000 emails since the fire and it's possible I've missed some! We try and answer the phone as often as we can, but we are working in a different room and it's not always possible.

Order statuses are also updated in the evenings, and refunds given then too. So we would like to thank everyone again for their patience, we are working hard and hope to get on top of things very soon.

Crate Paper Farmhouse

With Autumn now in full swing, it is lovely to find some papers with the warm tones of yellows, browns and oranges to match the colors outside. Crate Paper's new line 'Farmhouse' is just these colours, along with some green and teal too.

Here I used a spring photo, but the bright green grass in the photo matched these papers perfectly.

I kept all the detail of the page to one side, to make one brightly coloured busy panel, with just a bit of paint splattering and the title coming over onto the other side to break up the white space.

For the title I used the gorgeous new Corrugated Alphs from JillyBean Soup, which can be found here. I simply brushed a white inkpad over each letter to make it look slightly worn.

I could search with october afternoon

I really like the October afternoon boarding pass papers, but was really stuck for ideas how to use them. We've had holidays to various countries but I've scrapped so many holiday photos that I wanted to think of something to do, and here it is.......slightly cheesey maybe but having just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary the sentiment is true.

I started by using the amsterdam paper

and then tore a strip from the new york paper, inked and made small tears around the edges and attached to the amsterdam paper.

I matted my photo onto black cardstock & stuck down. Adding some black sequin waste under the photo, I cut out 2 hearts from some cardboard and inked them.

I added some photo corners with red brads,a tim holtz book plate which I covered in distress crackle paint as I did with the keyhole.

I finished with a couple of heart pins & some thread & used alphabet stickers for the journaling.

October afternoon

I guess it's fairly strange to decide to make a anniversary card using the October afternoon Boarding pass papers! but as my husband works away frequently and usually on our anniversary I decided they were a 'apt' paper to use this time!

I used the sydney patterned paper as the background for my card. Cutting the paper slightly smaller than my card and rounding the corners. I then inked the edges to make it stand out from the cream card.
I inked and distressed a kraft tag by sanding the edges & tearing and added this to the patterned paper.
I cut out 2 hearts from the pizza box my supplies are delivered in and tore some of the outer card from the front again giving a aged feel. I attached some small red brads to each heart and inked the edges & attached to the card having cut some sequin waste and attaching it to the side of the tag.

I finished with some glitz teeny alpha stickers and a few mulberry roses.

Scrapping the Everyday

It's so easy to scrap the big things in life.
The birthdays, the special days out etc. But sometimes I like to scrap about the little things that don't actually mean anything.

Like this photo that I took of my button jars lined up on my window.
I love this photo. They look so pretty and daily I look at these and find them inspiring.
So why not scrap this photo?!

I wanted a pop of colour to be the main feature of this LO, so I've left it quite plain.
I used this amazing green patterened paper (Crate Paper - Peppermint) as my base.

I cut a journal tag from this 12x12 sheer of accents (Crate - Peppermint) and layered it under my photo. I drew around a large circle in pencil and then stitched along the circlular edge.
I went through my tray of loose buttons that need to be sorted and stuck them in place.


Here are some other 'everyday' subjects that can be scrapped:

- Your breakfast
- Favourite outfit
- Workplace
- The car you drive
- Favourite mug
- Book you are reading right now
- The daily jewellery you wear
- The view from your window

Enjoy : )

A winner and an update...

First off we must give the winner of the UKS blog hop...things have been busy here at Papermaze and we apologise for not having it up earlier...the winner is
lemon said...great idea for a flower uks lemon

email me at wendy@bbbweb.com to claim your prize.

Okay onto another update about the shop........as you may be aware last weekend we had a everything at half price sale on the website.Thankyou to everyone that has ordered in this sale. To say we have been inudated is an understatment. Within 48 hours we had more orders than we typically pack in just a month.
We have been working hard since then to get these orders out, but please be patient with us....the amount we have to pack has been staggering...we have drafted in extra helpers but even then it is going to take some time to process them all, pick the orders and send them to you.
Vanessa took some photos today to show you...

 

As you can see there isn't much room in between everything...i woke up this morning with little bruises around the tops of my arms where i keep bumping into the hooks!!!



 
As you can see in the photo above...lots of stuff is in boxes...this box holds some thickers..there are another 3 huge boxes like this...so finding just one pack is fun!!!

We took all the cardstock out of the paper trays to be washed...ready for new cardstock to arrive...these tubs hold all of it...There were over 500 different colours, they all had to come out, be placed into plastic bags, labelled and then put in alphabetical order...that was alot of fun i can tell you!!!!

The shop has finally been painted...in a really bright orange...Vanessa loves her orange...and it looks brillant! So finally things are moving forward...and each day new parcels arrive with new stock in...ready for when we re open again.

Again all of us at Papermaze want to thank you all for offers of help and support,we have had some wonderful emails from our customers and we cannot thankyou enough. Love Wendy x

Scrapping with Lists

 Please take a look at the blog post below for an update on the fire and the shop.

Hi, Lisa here with you today.

I'm a big fan of 'the list'. I live by my lists daily.
A list for chores, work, scrapping projects, weekly menu. It's how I work.
I'm lost without them.
So it's not a surprise to learn that I love to scrap with lists too.
It's a great and very easy way to journal.

I've used the Christmas 'Snow Globe paper' 'Peppermint' range from Crate Paper.
I love this patterned paper.



I then used a circle cutter and cut lots of pretty circles out of it.


I stuck them in place with a small piece of double sided tape on each circle, placed my photo and matching jornal card in place.
Then using a piercing tool, I pierced lots of holes all over the circles making stars.
I have then very loosely sewn over purposely making it look slightly messy.


I decided to list 8 things we did this summer.


I like this messy cotton look.


Scrapping with lists, ideas are endless.

- Favourite foods, toys, books, movies
- Scrap what you like or dislike right now
- A LO about what you've done this past year
- New Years resolutions
- Ambitions
- Things that make you laugh

The list goes on : )

Update...

It's been two and a half weeks since we had the fire here at Papermaze, and life has been very busy since as we're trying hard to get things up and running again! I thought I'd bring you all up to date with what's happening and share some pictures. These were taken on the day of the fire itself. By the time the fire engines arrived the stock room was well and truly ablaze. You can see the shop in the foreground of this picture. The stock room was a lovely 17th century granary barn next door - all that remains here are a few posts.

We were lucky that the fire didn't really spread to the shop - fortunately there was a gap between the buildings which acted as a firebreak. The roof tiles were taken off by the fireman to check that the insulation wasn't smouldering.

And this is where the stock room stood :( The whole building and its contents destroyed. My husband used a digger to take loads of rubble and rubbish from this site to the field behind where the fireman hosed it down to stop it smouldering.

And here is the stock room plus several thousand scrapbook goodies scattered on the field.

Inside the shop, the plasterboard of the ceiling either fell or was taken down to get to the insulation. The fireman moved everything down to one end of the shop...

And so the next day, the clean up operation began. The farm machinery came in very handy again!

And while the men were working here, I had some willing volunteers (friends, customers & family) who came and helped sort through the rubbish, separating paper and other items from stock room fittings.

We came across pieces we could still recognise which was quite sad. With the charred papers we played 'guess which manufacturer it is'! I think it's Echo Park here...

... and some October Afternoon...

It took a good couple of days to sort through it all, and then the field was back to normal. Remaining papers were burnt completely, metal items pulled out and the rest of the rubble went in a hole in a field! Then it was on to the shop. We moved all the shelves and products out of the shop....

.... and into the one next door, that fortunately my husband hadn't yet occupied!

And you can even see boxes of new products in the picture above, already arriving! We've sorted out everything that was in the shop, and although it's a much smaller space, we're ready to go again! So, everything is now half price!!! Yes, 50% off everything! It has obviously been exposed to smoke, but many items seem fine, even some of the papers and cardstock have survived remarkably well!! So there are plenty of bargains to be had :) The shop is not ready for customers yet, so we are only taking online orders and there is a flat postal rate of £2.75 for UK orders. We hope that most of our stock figures are right, but there may be occasions when we find we don't have items in stock, in which case we will issue refunds rather than send replacements.

We've been very touched by the numerous emails and offers of help that we've received - thank you for all your support :)

UKscrappers blog hop...

Hi and welcome to the UKScrappers blog hop...you can find the original post and your first stop on the UKS forum which is here.You have come from Happy daze team and i hope you loved what you saw!!!!

Today as part of the blog hop we have two cards to share with you using the new Authentique line...

To make the pattern circle...punch out a scallop circle using card...the cut through to the centre...making a heart shape... every two scallops and you end up with something like this...really easy and simple but very effective, especially if you using contrasting colours.

  Thanks for popping to see us...now pop onto the next blog in the line....which is Pickleberry Papercrafts...i hope you enjoy the rest of the hop...make sure you comment on here to be in with a chance for a prize of a £10 gift voucher!!!!!!!!!!! thanks! Wendy x