Monday 24 February 2014

Simple Stories - Infectious

Hi Tracee with you this morning, when I got sent these Simple Stories, "A Charmed Life", papers this month I was so excited, as this is one of my most favourite colour combinations
My youngest daughter has been a bit down for the last few weeks and I wanted to make a layout that shows her fun and infectious sense of humour. 

 

I used the current sketch from the challenge site Once Upon A Sketch
I cut the  3 x 4 Journaling cards element paper up before I started that way I could see whcih side of the paper I was going to use.

I fussy cut some of the elements from the paper and layered them behind the pretty lace trim.

 There is great selection of mists in the shop and I splattered a few different colours to the background paper.

More of the lace and I cut one of the journaling panels from a 3 x 4 to write what I wanted to say on the layout.

There are so many elements to the simple stories papers and I will be back later to show you some cards I made using this collection 

Supplies Used 

Simple Stories A Charmed Life - 3 x 4 Journaling card elements
Simple Stories A Charmed Life - Whitewashed Wood  
 Simple Stories A Charmed Life - Happy Go Lucky
Simple Stories A Charmed Life - Happy Times
Cosmic Shimmer mist - Pearl
Cosmic Shimmer mist - Sunlight Mist
                                                     Lace Trim

Sunday 23 February 2014

Kaisercraft

Have you seen the new kaisercraft paper pads in store?  its so difficult to see what they are really like on line - I have the Kaisercraft 6 1/2" "Arts of Life" pad…. its available here….the papers are really good quality and are 160gsm and as well as having 24 sheets of patterned paper you also get 8 embossed papers and 4 foil ones which are totally gorgeous….. you also get 4 die cut pages in the pack to so loads to inspire you and get you started on your projects without having to buy extras…here are a few of the pages:-



 4 x pages die cuts…tags, sentiments, borders - fantastic selection all matching the papers


foiled papers - you get 2 of each



just a selection of the normal patterned papers….


so inspired by my pack….I made this pizza box out of  a piece of black bazzil




using a piece of the foiled paper and the mini tattered florals die I made a flower, added some lace, and ribbon - some smaller flowers, pins and one of the tagged sentiments and a piece of the border…the butterflies came from here….made this:-


so, what to put inside??

taking a sheet of card stock I sprayed on some dylusion sprays, using a pipette I loaded it up with another spray and let it fall down the paper…I added some doodling and came up with:-

umm think I forgot to photograph the finished piece, this is prior the doodling…. but, using the finished piece of card which also had some stamping added….the next step was to cut it up into 4 pieces and make these:-


which fitted into here…..


TFL today...

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Feburary Kit Sneak Peek...

So its that time of the month where we can anticipate the next Papermaze Monthly Kit going online, and here's a little peek at some of what you will get in the kit.  




There's going to be a mix of Kaisercraft, Marion Smith, Petaloo and My Minds Eye amongst other big manufacturers. My favourite thing is the sheet of bark. It really is just like a thin sheet of wood, fine enough to punch, die-cut, stitch through or fold...oh the fun I could have with it!!
Keep an eye out for the kit going online very soon :-)

Friday 14 February 2014

Happy Valentines Day!

We hope you are all having a fabulously loved up day! To get you in the mood even more, we have some fabulous Valentines project ideas from our DT...and don't forget that each of these can be easily altered to suit any occasion!

First up, Tracee....
 
Tracee has used new Simple Stories Hey Mom papers for her first card, showing how you can successfully create a beautiful Valentines Card without sticking to traditional colours...

 
...and here she has used BoBunny Head Over Heels for a contemporary card suitable for any genre.

Next is Lou with a card with a secret. This design can fit in a flat envelope, but opens up into a standing easel style card.....




 
Lou has used Echo Park Head over Heels and a mix of Prima Flowers, Liquid Pearls and Twines.
 
Carol has a really simple but effective gift box for us using Authentique Smitten Papers. Her instructions are included in the photos.....


 
 
And last but certainly not least, Anna has also used Echo Park Head Over Heels to create the so popular Project Life style scrapbook page. The cut-outs on some of these papers fit the pocket pages perfectly :-)

 
So that's just about a round up of the new Valentine style papers in the shop and online at www.papermaze.co.uk.
 
Lots of Love :-)

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Valentine's Scrapping with Echo Park...

It's a couple of days early but I have a love layout to share with you today using Echo Park's pretty collection 'Head over Heels'. You can find the whole collection at Papermaze here

Here is what I have used: 

I based this layout on a central piece of Echo Park patterned paper and then layered on it and at the top left and the bottom right sides using a selection of embellishments. 





I made the heart garland below by punching out some small hearts and then roughly stapling them to a piece of twine. I then tied a knot at either side to finish. 


 I have been busy making a project life style layout using the Echo Park Head over Heels collection to go alongside this layout. I will be back on Friday to show you this, along with the rest of the Design Team to share some lovely Valentines ideas. 

Have a good week! Anna x

Monday 10 February 2014

More Websters pages recorded

Hi Tracee with you again today sharing another layout, this time "project life style", that I created using some of the lovely Websters Pages recorded.

I've not yet gotten the Project Life bug but I wanted to create a layout with a Project Life type flair.

I cut some strips from the Rewind  & Today sheets and stitched them along the edges to frame the layout  

 


The printed acetate frames make a striking focal point for your photographs, I added some of the stickers from the sticker sheet to spell out my title.


 How cute are the mini frames?, with the simple addition of some word stickers and wood veneers your page is complete. I love how you can create 2 totally different atyle layouts using the same paper collection This is my post sharing the first layout.
All supplies can be found in the Papermaze shop
Hope you have a great start to the week and the weather is being kind to you, my thoughts go out to all those suffering the floods.

Sunday 9 February 2014

A Little Bit of Sunshine

Today is day 3. The last day of my masks and stencils tutorial weekend.
Have you grabbed yourself a bargain whilst they have 25% off?
See here.

This is what we are making today.

 
Today we are taking a break from the lovely Dear Lizzy from American Crafts and playing with the very colourful Daily Grind from Simple Stories.

I didn't go a gathering for this one today. I was quite content with my 12x12 Simple Stories Sticker Sheets. They gave me so much to work with already. I didn't feel the need to reach for much else other than a piece of matching chipboard.

This whole LO starts off with a mask today.
The sunshine mask.
Now I call this technique, controlled misting. I don't know if it actually has a name, that's just what I call it when teaching. Misting can be a little unpredictable. Some (like me) like that, but that's not for everyone. This way is more suitable to the 'cleaner' scrapper.
So, lay your mask where you want it to be on your page. I laid my photo on top so I would get it exactly in place. I didn't want any excess misting going on today.
Now cover up EVERYWHERE else with scrap paper where you don't want to see any misting.
Like this.

 
Now you can mist over your mask.
 
 
You are left with this.
 
 
Once it's dry you can add your photo and stickers.
 
 
To finish it off I take another mask. One with small stars this time and lay over the LO.
I use a dauber pressed in ink and use that to press through the mask.
 
 
I love these stars.
 
 

 
My weekend blogging has come to an end here at Papermaze. I hope you have enjoyed.
Thank you for stopping by.
Happy Masking
 
Lisa x
 
 

Saturday 8 February 2014

Believe

I hope you enjoyed the first of the 'Masking' posts yesterday.
I am here with a second for you today.

Today we will be getting a little messy with out masks.
We are using this 6x6 Crafters Workshop Mask. Mini Vine.
Remember, we have 25% off all masks & stencils this weekend.

The LO I've made is this one here.

 
I started off in the same way as I did yesterday. I gathered and collected. I'd decided on my colour combo already and set off on my search to find things that matched. Again as yesterday I used the American Crafts - Dear Lizzy - Polka Dot Party paper, stickers and this time I did use the Thickers to match too. 
 
Back to the mask.
You need a base that can take a little water. Some paperstock is a little thin and you'll find that it ends up wharping, so make sure you use a good cardstock. I like Bazzill for this.
Lay your mask in place and rub over using Inktense blocks. These are my favourite for this but you could try watercolour pencils too.


 
I warn you, it does get a little messy with the inktense blocks. They are like chalks and you end up with dust and powder everywhere. Once you remove your mask you are left with this.
 
 
At this point I like to give my hands a good wash otherwise you end up getting the coloured dust everywhere. I also like to have a clean rubber to hand to rub away an excess marks that I don't want on my cardstock.
 
 
Now taking a decent sized wide and flat paint brush, I load it up with water and brush down the pattern. I stop at the end of each line. Load up with clean water and brush up in the other direction, stopping at the top again. The water will form a small puddle at the end of the line where you stop, that's good. Don't try to dry it up. You can now see why you need decent cardstock to work on.
 
 
Once I finished, as my paint brush was wet, I flicked it and let it drip down on to my page. I now leave it to dry.
 
 
I've started to work on the photo and the layers. It's now time to work on the next part with the mask. As the card is dry, I lay the same mask back on the page and take a black journal pen and use the mask as a stencil for doodling. As the mask is chalky from before, either clean it off before doing this or like me, just wipe the photo after and use the rubber to rub out any unwanted smears.
 
 
The LO can now be finished.
 
 
I added some of the Elle's Studio Tidbits to the LO. I inked around the edges of these.
 
 
The orange drops are Tattered Angels Glimmer Glam.
I've dipped a long, thin paint brush in to the pot and let it drop. You get nice big drops by doing this and not the little splatters you get from flicking. It feels slightly more controlled too. It looks wet on the photo, that's how it looks when it dries.
 
 
And lastly a close up of the mask work.
 
 
 
Thanks for joining me today. I hope you have enjoyed these techniques. Please come back and visit me here tomorrow where I will have a third LO to share with you and more mask & stencil techniques.
 
 
Lisa xx