Hello Gorgeous

Hello everyone,

This month I was able to use the beautiful My Minds Eye range Hello Gorgeous.  The gorgeous florals and teal colouring was an absolute winner for me.  I felt the range had a wonderful retro feel so decided to pair it with some pictures from a "Back to the Future" 50's event that my family went to.  I saw an idea for a pennant layout on Instagram and adapted it to suit my style.

I used various sheets from the Hello Gorgeous range and cut out lots of various sized pennants using my Big Shot Plus , I even cut out my photos into pennants!  I originally used one sheet as my background and decided it was a bit too "busy" and decided to go against all my natural instincts and rip the paper in half and put a co-ordinating sheet of pink Bazzill cardstock to break up the two pieces of patterned paper.  However, I found this looked quite stark in the middle of the floral paper and decided to take my gorgeous Tim Holtz Scribbles stencil and some pink ink and go over the whole of the pink cardstock to acheive a subtle, pretty background.

I then layered my pennants on top of each other with a couple of buttons and ephemera from my old stash from October Afternoon.  I finally decided to try and make my title look like a little banner too and used two paperclip arrows from Freckled Fawn to form the ends of the banner.

I hope you enjoyed this layout, thanks for looking xxx

Simple Stories - Carpe Diem

Hello, Hope you all had a good Easter - Lynn with you today using the lovely Simple Stories - Carpe Diem collection. I have made a couple of layouts and a card this month. (The papers were also used for the crop kit this month.)

Scribbler Extraordinare

First up is this layout of my daughter Emily scribbling ideas down in her trusty note book.

Using the 'Pencil it in' paper I cut off the row of pencils and leaving a 1" band of black along the bottom I cut round each pencil. I kept the manufacturer's strip as this also had a pencil on it, I used this on another project.

Here is how I cut the paper ...

... and the pencils

The Black Bazzill, was gutted to leave a 1" frame (12" x 12"). Then a sheet of  White Bazzill was cut to 11.5" x 11.5" and spritzed it with Black Soot Distress Stain. The white cardstock was then mounted centrally onto the black. The strip of pencils was stuck across the page so they were near the top. 

I selected the following items from the collection:

Pink Dot Black Dot,
Teal Dot Yellow Dot
4 x 6 Horizontal Journalling Cards
Expressions Cardstock Stickers
From these I cut shapes images and quoted, they were inked with Black Soot Distress ink and mounted onto Black Bazzill to leave a very narrow border. Some of these elements were raised with 3D foam pads. I made a tag from the quote and added a yellow ribbon bow.

I outlined all the pencils and the pink letters with a black marker pen.

To finish I scattered some 'Carpe Diem Enamel Dots' over the page.

Honey I Shrunk The Kid

My second layout shows my cousin's daughter Rosie on holiday in Tenby.

Another sheet of White Bazzill, this time I edged the page with stitch stamps from PaperArtsy JOFY from set 26 and a Versafine Onyx Black ink pad. Then I inked the edges with Distress Ink in Worn Lipstick and Black Soot.

The decorative strips across the centre of the page were created from both sides of  'Pencil it in' paper. The pleated strip from the rainbow side has been stitched in place with the sewing machine. The black was left over from cutting out the pencils earlier and was cut using a Martha Stewart deep edge punch.

The Balloons were stamped onto the colour side 'Pencil it in' paper using Versafine Onyx Black ink pad and Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Crazy Things stamps. They were tied with Black Licorice Divine Twine.

Using scraps of Carpe Diem papers (Pink Dot Black Dot, Teal Dot Yellow Dot, Brand New Day and Fist Bump), I cut rectangles, circles, stars, and label shapes to layer up up under and around the photo and to create some interest at the top right and bottom left of the page.

With an index card image from the '4 x 6 Horizontal Journalling Cards' paper, I trimmed this down and used it for my title. The wording was created using more letters from the  'Expressions Cardstock Stickers' sheet.

You Colour My World

I made a card by cutting individual pencils from the 'Pencil it in' paper and the '4 x 6 Horizontal Journalling Cards' paper.

The white card blank was covered with Brand New Day paper mounted onto Peacock Bazzill. I added lettering using the stickers and then the pencils. I drew round the pencils and letters as before, and finished off with some more enamel dots.

Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Our final clue...

It's time for the final clue in this year's Easter Egg hunt :)  Hopefully after finding today's hidden egg, you will have 7 answers, which you then need to email me - vanessa@papermaze.co.uk.  All I need is the product name and manufacturer of each egg. Closing date for entries is midday Thursday 31st March. A winner plus runners up will be drawn at random then :)

So, it's a picture clue for you today:

Which artist painted this?

Happy hunting - and good luck!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!  I hope you're all having a lovely, chocolate-filled day... and already we're onto the penultimate day of our annual egg hunt, how the time flies!  Here's today's clue:

Which Neil Young album included the hit single 'Heart of Gold'?

Happy hunting!

Day Five...

I hope you're managing to keep track with the clues in our Easter Egg hunt, remember there's a £30 gift voucher to spend at our shop for one lucky person!  So, without any further ado, let's get on with today's clue:

Mount Agung is found on which island?

Happy hunting!

Halfway there!

We're at the halfway point in our Easter Egg hunt and I hope you've all had a lovely Good Friday.  We're all ready with today's clue, so here goes:

This song was a hit in 1978 for Terry Wogan!

Happy hunting!

Today's egg hunt clue...

Hopefully you've found the first two eggs so far, and I've just hidden the third, so the best thing is that we get straight on with the next clue!  And today, it's a picture clue :)

What is the name of the character on the left in this picture?

Happy hunting!

Day 2..

We're back again with the next clue in our Easter Egg hunt!  I hope you managed to find the answer to the first clue yesterday?!  Without further delay let's give you today's clue:

Which TV sitcom starred Richard Briers and Felicity Kendall?

Happy hunting!

It's time for....

I can't believe Easter is only just around the corner, I know it's early this year, but it still seems to have crept up on me!  Anyway, on this blog, Easter only means one thing - it's time for our annual Easter Egg hunt!  Every day from now until Easter Monday we'll hide an egg on our website - and all you have to do is find it! 

Of course, with thousands of products to look through, you might need a bit of help, so 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 let's get started, here's the first clue...

The song You'll Never Walk Alone is from which Rodgers & Hammerstein musical?

Once you've worked out the answer, pop over to the shop to find the egg and keep a note of it.  And remember to come back tomorrow to find the next egg!

Happy hunting :)

March Crop Kit

March's crop is tomorrow and we'll be at Otley Village Hall from 10am until 4pm.  There'll be the usual array of tea, coffee, biscuits and homemade cakes, and the shop will be open too, with 10% off all purchases!  And of course, there's the crop kit :)  This month it has been designed by Lynn, using one of Simple Stories latest collections, Carpe Diem.  It's a beautiful colour combination, and we love the photo too!

If you'd like to join us, it's only £4 for the day, just drop us an email :)

kaisercraft treasured moments part 2

this layout uses the kasiercraft treasured moments papers, blue fern studios chipboard, a textured stamp in my own stash, brown distress ink and a prima book plate.

The sheet of timeless moments paper lends itself beautifully to being the background of a layout without  having to add any further distressing. So, I cut it down and mounted it on some black card stock. I then fussy cut out my flowers, leaves and butterflies from other papers in the collection

the delicate chipboard was coloured with distress ink and gold mist and then stamped with my own textured stamp. Before I could adhere this to my page I waited for it to dry as it was very fragile

 

 I then went about constructing my page. Adhering my photo first, my fussy cut flowers and tag and placed my chipboard on top which I had cut to fit my page. the left over piece of chipboard was used in the top corner which added extra interest to the page. Here are some close ups

 

Coastal Escape

Hi, it's Anna here today to show you what I have been working on this month. I have been using the lovely Kaisercraft Coastal Escape Collection. It's perfect for scrapbooking those beach holidays or days out at the seaside. So I decided to use some photographs from our holiday to Portugal last year. 

I started by randomly cutting out some of the Woven Die-Cut Paper and then added layers of the lovely detailed patterned paper on top of it.  I added some of the element stickers, a doilie, tag, frame and some pearls to finish.

I'll be back with more from Coastal Escape soon! 

Thanks for looking, have a great week! 

Anna x

Pocket Letter with Simple Stories

Hi Tracee with you today, today I will be sharing a pocket letter that I created with the Simple Stories Life In Colour Collection.

I havn't made one of these for a long time after my initial obsession died down. I love creating the 9 little sections that make up these letters, and you can fill them with as much or as little gifts as you like.

I cut up this sheet of paper and trimmed the cards down to size, because they are already so nice I didnt add a lot of embellishments to them, so most of my gifts will go into the back of the pockets.

I added some of the chipboard from the collection to some of the pockets, I kept the adhesive backing on and just added a little DST to that, so that the sticker can be used by the recipient if they want to.

Hope you are having a Happy Scrappy day

Supplies for this and all your papercrafting projects can be found over in the SHOP

Product Review - Heidi Swapp Texture paste

Hi, Carol with you today.  Back in February Vanessa added some Heidi Swapp products to the online shop.  One of the sections is Texture paste.  The texture paste comes in four different colours, metallic silver and gold and then a pale blue and pink.  I had the gold one.

Now, I love mixed media and I have loads of different mediums.  All so very different! This texture paste comes in a tube - so I put some onto my craft mat and lifted with my pallet knife.  The texture is really light and like a mousse, and when it dries is FANTASTIC! is so shiny and smooth…the light texture means that its easy to use with stencils and gives a really good impression if you stamp into it.  another benefit is that it cleans off your stencils so easily too… a real must if you like to add a coloured texture to your work..

So, to demonstrate just how shiny and vibrant this product is I made this card…. 

The base is a white C6 card and I masked off a rectangle using post it notes…I then stamped the flower from the Kay Carley 01 plate, which is out of stock, but, take a look at the other flower stamps from the Paperartsy range, all are gorgeous.    I then stamped the image again onto a post it to make a mask.  With the mask in place I added distress ink using a blending tool….Adding a stencil I then added more distress ink…moving the stencil slightly I then added the gold texture paste…if you ensure that your mask stays in place it gives this lovely textured look… once everything was dry I then stamped the flower again so that the stem was off the pages…doodling and a bit of distress ink on my flower finished off my card.

Here is a close up of the texture paste…

TFL xx

Prima - Tales of You and Me.

Hello, It’s Anita here with my very first post for the Papermaze DT.

I have been lucky enough to work with some of the beautiful new release papers from Prima’s

‘Tales of You and Me’ Collection  and my layout is about celebrating my lovely sister on her

40th birthday.

To start with I gutted the centre of the ‘Notre Amour Sera àJamais’ sheet and mounted the outer frame onto a sheet of brown cardstock, raising it up on double sided foam pads all around the edges to give it a little dimension.

I then took the centre piece of the sheet and distressed the edges and then inked them, I gently inked one of the tiny doilies and popped some behind the paper, leaving some poking out. I also splattered some ink splats and drizzled some runs on the paper too.

I took a sheet of the cardstock and punched out a lacy edge border to matt my photograph on, I gently sponged it with the same ink I used earlier to tone the colour down a bit.

Using half a sheet of ‘Beaute Cashee’ I die cut various flowers which I then inked, layered and curled to create full blooms, I added buttons and dewdrops for the centres of the flowers and scattered some others randomly about the page.

I then added in the string, Alpha Stickers and finished off the page with a chipboard number 40 which I coated liberally with bronze glitter.

I also altered this old wooden mirror that I have had for a long time.

 I painted first with a Winter White acrylic paint, then cut to fit a piece of ‘ Belles melodies D’amour’ sheet, cutting out the centre to expose the mirror and inking all the edges before sticking to the mirror frame.

I made some more blossoms using some of the cardstock in two different colours, which I then inked up and also punched out some fronds to tuck underneath the blooms.

  I cut out the little girl and the butterflies from the  ‘Contes de Toi et Moi’ sheet and then finished it off using some more of the alpha stickers.

Thank you so much for looking at my creations and don’t forget that most of these products are available from the shop.

Warmest Wishes Anita x

Pebbles Winter Wonderland

Hi there its Julie here Happy New Year to you all.  I'm here today with the gorgeous Winter Wonderland collection from Pebbles.  It's an absolute must for any Frozen fans out there and all those wonderful wintry pictures you may have.

Firstly I kept it pretty simple and did a little card using the Pebbles "Chips" Snowflake pack and a pack of the Ephemera chips.  These packs are absolutely stuffed full of pieces that can be used for cards, tags and layouts.  I used the Creative Expressions Frosty Swirls embossing folder to emboss a piece of Bazzill cardstock to use as the background, I then cut two strips of paper from the 6x6 paper pad to create a look of a present bow.  I then used the snowflakes as a background and placed a snowman from the ephemera pack onto some foam dots and put him in the foreground of the card.  It only took a few minutes and yet looks so effective.  The Merry Christmas was from the gorgeous Shimelle collection, I clear embossed it onto a piece of card and then used Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass distress ink to bring out the image.

I then created a tag again using the Chips ephemera pack. I firstly cut out two tag shapes, one out of white cardstock and another from a piece of paper in the 6x6 paper pad (I eyeballed it but there are lots of wonderful tag dies on the market).  I then embossed the white tag using the Frosty Swirls folder and then used my distress ink tool with Chipped Saphire and Tumbled Glass on them and gently ran it over the embossing to add colour.  I then simply adhered two elements from the Ephemera pack on the tag to create a cute handmade princess tag.

Finally I created a layout using some lovely pictures from a recent trip to Disneyland Paris with the Frozen Queen herself Elsa.  I painted a piece of Bazzill cardstock very roughly with white paint, I then sprayed some gold spray on top of it and also used gold texture paste and a mini polka dot stencil to create my background.  I then used the papermaze doilies and elements from the snowflake and ephemera Chips to create clusters round my photos.  To add a little bit of something different I decided to use my Fuse tool.  I placed a small picture inside a Fuse Waterfall pocket and fused it closed.  I then added some sequins to another pocket and fused that pocket closed.  I then fused both pockets together.  I had a great picture of Elsa blowing kisses which I mounted on several co-ordinating pieces of the 6x6 paper pad and placed on the layout.  Just above this photo I cut a slit into my Bazill cardstock and popped the top of the fused pockets through the slit.  This meant that the fused pockets sat on top of the photo of Elsa blowing kisses.  I added some tape to the back of the Bazill cardstock to adhere the pockets into place and have ended up with a photo of my little one dressed as Elsa on top, a sequin clear pocket through which you can see Elsa blowing kisses which was to create the effect that she was blowing sequins kisses to her.  It was really fun to add a little interactive element to a layout, something that I will definitely do more of in 2016!

Thank so much for reading xxx