Here we go again...

Easter is not far away now, and so it must be time for our annual Easter Egg hunt, which we know you enjoy doing!   Every day from now until Easter Monday we'll hide an egg in our online store, and all you have to do is find it!

Each day I will give you a clue on the blog. Your job is to work out the answer and find the egg on the website :) Make a note of the manufacturer and product, then once you have all seven answers you can email them to me (details on Monday). And, of course, there is a prize to be had! This year we'll be giving away a £30 gift voucher to one lucky person (whose name will be drawn at random!) - and we'll also be giving away three 6x6 pads to three runners up (one pad each!) .

So, are you ready?   Then let's begin with the first clue:

This song was a hit for Level 42 in 1986.

Work out the answer, and jump over to the website to find the egg!  Keep a note of the answer, and remember to drop by tomorrow for the next clue!

A Perfect Autumn...

Hi there,

It's Anna here and this month I have been catching up on some Autumnal photographs using the lovely 'A Perfect Autumn' collection by Carta Bella.

Here is the first of my layouts using this collection...

I used a sheet of white bazzill for my base but then just left about 1/3 of it showing at the top of my layout. I used some of the patterned paper to layer together along with a few stickers from the element sheet.

Thanks for stopping by!

Anna xx

catch your dreams

This layout was created using the Bo Bunny star crossed papers. I used one of the patterned papers as my background and cut the wood grained patterned paper to mount my photo on.

I made the dream catcher but cutting a hoop shape from spare cared stock and then wrapped in tissue tape ( I tore the tape down the middle, it made it easier to wrap ) The next stage took ages to do, and with the help of instructions from the net and some thick cream thread, I went about making my dream catcher.

I fussy cut 3 feathers and added seed beads to my dream catcher. Added a frame and title cut from the patterned paper. Adhered some stars and spattered some white dylusions ink to my page.

Are you planning a trip?

For me, part of the pleasure of a trip, is the whole planning.
I love keeping a notebook and making lists.
I love saving money and I love the whole research of a trip.


We are planning a big family holiday to Florida in 2017.
This weekend we had our first family meeting to discuss dates and the essentials.
Half of the family have never been to the US, so it's totally new to them.


I thought it would be fun to put some holiday planning packs together.
The 'Say Cheese' collections from Simples Stories were perfect for my fun projects.
'Say Cheese' was released last year.  And 'Say Cheese 11' is the new release.
These are probably my favourite scrapbooking collections ever!!


Anyway, back to my holiday packs.

I added a tag to a large kraft bag and inside I added a Minnie Mouse Pencil Case full of stationery, a money saving pot, a planner journal along with the Virgin Holiday brochure and an info pack that I put together myself of everything you need to know going to Orlando as I get asked so often by people now. I was really pleased with these packs.

I made the money saving pots first. We like to save all our loose change. It's surprising how it amounts up. They started off as Costa Coffee pots.

I used the Say Cheese papers to wrap around the tins and stuck in place with double sided sticky.
I then decorated with a personalised sticker on the lid and some glitter.

Now the journals started off as cheap note books.

I measured up the 'Say Cheese' papers, cut to size, rounded off the corners and stuck in place with double sided sticky.

 

I used this piece of 'Say Cheese 11' paper for the design on the front.

Simple Stories have the coolest packs of Washi Tape to match. I love that it comes in packs so that you get a variety of designs. Such a great idea.

And this paper here works great with a circle punch. It makes the perfect embellishments.

I printed off strips of words on my printer.

And I find that outlining everything with a black pen makes such a difference.

My finished books.

 

 

I'm really pleased with how they turned out.
These papers and matching bits and pieces are so much fun.


Thanks for joining me today.
Lisa x

lets play gelatos…..

Hi Carol with you today…. last month at crop, Vanessa asked me to do a post on gelatos and their uses…. so, here we go…everything on this post is done with gelatos (apart from the card to stamp and ink of course!!)

So, what are gelatos? Gelatos are made by Faber Castell and are creamy/waxy sticks of colour encased in a plastic tube.  There are a whole host of colours available coming in packs of 4 with blenders, paintbrushes or stamps, there are several mixed media kits and a very large selection box of colours too - you can find them in the shop here.

So, lets begin….

I started off by taking a 5" x 7" white canvas board and my box of gelatos…...

and swirled on bubblegum, peach, pale turquoise and pistachio…

As gelatos are so soft and creamy they are very easy to blend - so in one corner I used my finger (or you can use a blending tool) and blended the colours together… this is the result

you can see how the colours have blended together really well, see the comparison with the swirled product?

In the other corner I used a paintbrush and water - I find it easier to soak my brush but not so much that I flood my canvas but wet enough for the colour to blend well…

Can you see the difference? the water side seems much brighter whilst the blended side seems a lot lighter and the texture is much greater on the blended side…

Taking a rubber stamp (I used a text stamp here) , rub the gelato (I used squid ink here) over the stamp, spritz with water and then stamp over the canvas…

Taking a stencil, place on the canvas and then rub over with gelato…. I found that I had a lot of product left on the stencil, so I repositioned it on my board and taking a stencil brush brushed over dragging the left over product into the cut out…  I also run the gelatos along the edges of my canvas and blended with a damp baby wipe...

scribble some gelato onto your mat, spritz with water and mix you then have paint… 

I used this grey to add lines to my background...

using black and white pens I added definition to my stencilling and et voila my background is finished…

Taking some white cardstock I stamped EM14 one of Darcy's new stamps and painted using the technique above… I added some liquid pearls, washi tape and a stamped sentiment and here is my finished piece.

Thank you for looking and if you have any other ways of using the gelatos please show us.

Let's go to Euro Disney with the March Kit

Hi Tracee with you today, I am here to share with my first project using the March Kit that will be on sale later this month.

My Grandaughter recently went to Euro Disney and whilst the papers in the kit aren't typical "Disney" colours they went really well with this pic of the 3 of them stood in the park.

 

Unfortunately the weather is beyond awful and my photo doesn't truly reflect the gorgeous colours in the mixture of papers in the kit.

 

I used a Cameo file to cut the plus signs from the background paper and then I added the Kaisercraft Rustic Harmony sheet to the back.

I added a cluster of flowers and a frame to the bottom right corner and my title is made up of a mix of alphas and some of the word stickers from the sheet.

 

I hope the weather is better where you are. Have a Happy Scrappy week and don't forget to pop over to the shop where you can find all your crafting supplies.

 





Hello Happiness - Project Life

Hello, it's Lisa with Project Life here today.

Doesn't this Bella BLVD range 'Molly' scream happiness to you!!
I used these papers to make up one of my PL pages.

 

 

 

 

I really enjoy making these happy and colourful pages.

All you need are some pretty papers, a corner punch and a journal pen.

It's as easy as that!!

 

Enjoy! 

 



journey

This is the second layout using the Marion Smith posh collection papers.

I have cut some of the pockets from the finer things patterned paper, as a background to mount my photo. A piece of the dusty attic trellis tucked behind my layers and fussy cutting some flowers. The journey title is cut from  the boutique patterned paper and tucked in some of the journaling cards to add interest

 

Twine added to the pockets and ink splatters to the background card stock. I loved using these papers with this photo

Bella Cards

Hello, Lisa here today with some bright, fun cards.

I used a variety of these Bella BLVD papers.
If you like fun and colourful papers, then you will love Bella BLVD.

I followed the same look for each card, which speeds up the process when you are making a batch of cards, but I used a few different techniques to add some variation to each card.

 

I used the Molly Collection on this particular card.

Adding a little gesso and some glitter.

This paper here 'Sparkle and Shine' is full of these large green words on the back. They are great to cut out as use as card sentiments or titles on LO's.  

I coated mine in Crackle Accents. This stuff is great and when dry leaves a crackled effect.

 

I also made this thank you card with the 'Family Forever' Collection.

Adding a little twine always looks good on a card.

 

 

Another card here made using the Molly Collection.

I cut out some of the flowers from this paper here and layered them up with 3d foam tape.

I love the 'Paper Pieces' packs from Bella BLVD that match the papers. They are so fun to use. I cut the word 'beautiful' out from one of them. 

I finished with some Stickles for a sparkly glittery effect.

I also used this Crafters Workshop Stencil here with some ink.

 

 

My favourite card from this little collection is this new home card.

 

 

This time I used the 'Snapshots' Collection.

I added a couple of pieces of vellum, only sticking them down at the top to leave them floating on the card.

I cut the cute little house from the 'Pajama Day' paper. Those little houses are just adorable.

 

 

I hope you like these little cards.

It's so much fun to grab your scraps of pretty papers and make a batch of cards.

I like to keep a box of cards made up for all occasions.

They are always handy to have.

 

Lisa xx 

 

 

 

 

Matchbox for Mothers Day

Hi Carol with you today… to go with my previous post (here) of a Mothers Day card with matching tag I thought I'd make a decorated matchbox to use as a gift box…

I decided to make my finished box 3" x  6" so I started off with a 12 x 12 piece of pink bazzil…. I cut this into two even pieces… (6 x 12). Taking one piece I cut to measure 5 " x 8", taking my scoreboard I then scored each side a 1" and creased - I then made this into my bottom drawer…

For the wrap, I always have problems with measurements for these sorts of things so I took my remaining piece of pink cardstock and scored the shorter edge at 1 2/16" and folded and creased, I then put the crease against the edge of my scoreboard and scored at 3 2/16" repeating the folding and creasing and placing the last crease against the scoreboard edge I added 2/16ths to each measurement - this just adds a little bit of room for each side…. this is the box and sleeve …

now for the decoration:-

I stencilled the lid with a harlequin stencil using worn lipstick distress ink… I stamped the lid and sides with a text stamp and black versafine ink, the edges were inked with walnut stain distress ink.  I die-cut a tag out of some of the left over pink bazill the edges were then inked with walnut stain distress ink - using one of the new Darcy minis and a black ink pad I stamped the tag and then coloured in with distress markers (available in store) - these were then given a wash with a water brush, the edges were doodled with a black pen.  I mounted the tag onto the box and added some buttons from my Graphics 45 Time to flourish sticker sheet, a prima flower, some washi tape and some scraps of paper inked and edged with black ink, I also made some rolled flowers… a die-cut swirl and some bling finished off my box….

TFL

Lots of Photos, Chevrons & Stars

That just about sums this LO up today.

Hi, it's Lisa here.
I've been creating with the Bo Bunny Altitude papers.
The colours are so inviting. And it just goes to show that Winter themed papers, don't have to just be used on Winter LO's. It was about 30c on this day that I scrapped about.
The blues, greens and a tiny touch of purple.
It's a great colour combo.

 I used the Altitude Flurry paper to get me started.

I slotted 3 pieces of this cut up to go behind my photos.
The Cold Snap paper is great fun to cut up and use as chevrons on a LO.

See what I mean. You can point them to where the action is happening on a LO.

I also added a few little wooden stars to my page.
I love these wooden embellishments.
Studio Calico do some great packs here. You really get a lot for your money and they go along way too. In this pack of stars there are 232, all different sizes and just £3.99 per pack. There are lots of other different shapes too.
I like to use the Tim Holtz Stains to add a touch of colour to them.

I hope you like my LO today.
Thanks for stopping by. xx