Merry and Bright ....Simple Stories Vintage Country Christmas

Happy Christmas to you all!

Its Anita here with a last minute layout using some left over bits from Simple Stories Vintage Country Christmas papers.

Last October I started to teach myself to needle felt as a new hobby and I quickly fell in love with it. This is a photo of my first Christmas Angel I made and she has a tiny robin on her hand.

The little robin inspired the use of the Tim Holtz bird and birdcage die and I used scraps to turn the bird into a little robin with sparkly wings.

The layout is framed using Classic Red cardstock and also a sheet of Wonderful Life from the Collection. I cut the sheet in 2, a little above the half way line, flipped one side onto the reverse side and then taped them back together to  form the background.Then added some cotton lace to cover the join line.

The various panels and elements were cut from the sheet of  4 x 6 Elements and I used some scraps of the reverse which is a lovely polka dot red and white to die cut the bow from.

Gold mirri board was good for die cutting the cage and add a little Christmas shine and the robin is created from brown card, brown glitter card and some scraps of the polka dot paper.

I hope you get time to do some crafting over Christmas....don't forget there are lots of fabulous goodies available in the SHOP ....and if Santa hasn't bought you any....then maybe you should treat yourself!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you.

Warmest wishes
Anita xx

December Papermaze Kit - Part 2

Hello - Lynn here today with my second pair of Christmas layouts made with the December Papermaze kit. To purchase the kit have a look at the great new shop website, you will find all the products used on my post, and much, much more.  

Before looking at the layouts in detail - here is what you will find in the kit.

Patterned papers:
Simple Stories - Holly Jolly collection - Home for the Holidays & Cozy Christmas
Kaisercraft - Under the Gum Leaves collection - Protea
Kaisercraft - Enchanted collection - Imagine
Authentique - Rejoice collection - Rejoice #22
American Crafts - Heidi Swapp - Winter Wonderland collection - Poinsettia Lane
Bazzill cardstock - Fawn & Crabapple Dark

reverse side of papers

Extra Matched Bazzil Cardstock Pack

The extra Bazzill pack is made up of Butter Mints, Mocha Divine, Safari, Grenadine.

Embellishments include: Doily, exclusive star stencil, 50cm twine, 2 paper fern leaves, Prima paper flower, 2 heart buttons, 3 tiny paper roses glittery chipboard star, 20cm lace with velvet ribbon &  strip dots. 

Lego Gingerbread House - This layout using the Mistletoe Kisses SVG file from Pink Fresh Studio, shows photos of a Christmas Lego project my big kids enjoyed building - Christmas eve 2015.

The base of my layout is this amazing wood effect paper from Kaisercraft's Enchanted collection - Imagine. I used the cut file to create the image from Fawn Bazzill. I chose the measurements of 24cm x 25.5 cm and positioned the cut in the centre of the Bazzill (leaving a border around the edges of the cardstock for another layout).

I filled the open areas of the cut image with scraps of Bazzill - Butter Mint for the berries, Safari for the leaves and the tartan side of the Cozy Christmas paper for the bow.

I mounted my photos onto scraps of the Authentique Rejoice #22 paper, with the star side up. I inked the edges of the photos and the mounts with Fired Brick Distress Oxide Ink.

I arranged the photos and Mistletoe onto the wood paper, leaving an area for the title. The Mistletoe was mounted with 3D foam pads and the berries were given a frosting with Crystal Stickles.

For my title I used several different ideas together. The '2015' and 'Lego' were cut with a Bigz XL Alphabet Sizzix die Wonderland, I cut them twice, once with Safari and once with Butter Mints Bazzill, then inked them and offset the letters to make a shadow. The word 'Christmas' was trimmed from the #22 paper and 'Gingerbread House' was created with Pink Fresh Studio Mini Puffy Alpha Stickers - Just a Little Lovely.

I found a chipboard 'Merry Christmas' in my stash and inked it, then I added a coat of Glossy Accents and once dry a tiny dot of Xmas Red Stickles for the berry. I popped this at across the base of the photos.

The Legend of the Icelandic Yule Lads - This time I have used photos from our holiday to Iceland last Christmas. We learnt much about the legends and folk law surrounding the festivities from the tour guides, one of them read the fairy stories to us on the long journeys through the snow covered mountains. 

The base for this layout is the sheet of Crabapple Dark Bazzill. I used the sheet of Simple Stories Holly Jolly - Home for the Holidays paper, cutting a piece 15cm x 29 cm with the large flower print uppermost (I gutted the centre of this and set aside for later). Then I cut a piece 13cm x 27cm with the small print uppermost. I mounted these, onto the top half of the Bazzill (I also gutted a piece from the Bazzill to use later).

I mounted my photos onto some Fawn Bazzill, and attached them to the layout with 3D foam tape, leaving the edges free to tuck the ribbon underneath. I cut the lacy/velvet ribbon into two pieces and attached it along the bottom of the patterned paper.

I like to mix fonts and sizes of lettering for my titles, so I used the Burton's Nightmare font and my Cricut, changing the sizes as I wanted them. I also used the Pink Fresh Studio Tiny Puffy Alpha Stickers - Everyday Musings. 

I covered the top half of the layout and photos with some waste paper, and flicked some White Linen Dylusions Ink spray over the bottom area where the lettering would go later.
I added the heart buttons, leaves, tiny flowers and Prima flower from the kit. I used three wooden buttons left over from a previous kit. I added some stitching to the buttons with some embroidery floss.

I punched a few fronds from scraps of patterned paper and arranged them around the flowers, then I added a little Stickles to make them sparkle. 

I still have plenty of papers left so will be back with two more layouts soon.
Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Muttcracker by Photoplay - Here comes Santa Paws

Hello, Karen C here. Today I have a scrapbook layout for you using the Muttcracker Collection from Photoplay. Being a dog owner I was instantly drawn to this collection which is full of cute colourful images of our four-legged friends all ready for Christmas. But, there are also images of their feline friends too so the collection will be perfect for scrapbooking photos of my cat too.

The layout I'm sharing today features a photo of my dog taken when she was a puppy at Christmas time. 

I started with a 12 x 12 sheet of white Bazzill cardstock and on this I layered pieces of the Ho Ho Ho paper and Happy Howlidays paper. I tore some of the edges of the paper for added interest and also added some thin strips of gold mirror card at the top and bottom of the page

I cut three of the images from the Feliz Navidog cut apart paper and used these to make faux Christmas cards. The images were matted on gold mirror card and then placed at an angle onto white cardstock which had an added flap (resembling the flap of an envelope). I folded the flap on top of the image and placed foam squares underneath the flap to raise it up.

The three faux Christmas cards were put in a row across the centre of the layout along with my 4 x 6 photo which was double matted on gold mirror card and white cardstock.

I found some very, very. VERY old chipboard letters in my stash which co-ordinated perfectly with the collection and used these and some gold Thickers to make my title.

I die cut gold stars and used these as well as small white pom poms and chipboard dots from the Thicker sheet to embellish.

Gold twine was also looped across the layout.

You may recall I scrapbooked a similar photo last Christmas using the Cozy & Bright collection from Pebbles which is still available in the shop as well as lots of other wonderful Christmassy collections and my previous layout can be found here.

I hope you have a lovely Christmas and New Year and perhaps you'll find time for a little crafting in between the festivities.

Take Care,

Karen x x

The Christmas Pudding Club! ....Simple Stories Vintage Country Christmas

Hi There!

 It's Anita here starting off this week and I have been working with Simple Stories 'Vintage Country Christmas' Collection!
Every year near the end November I get together with my Mum, daughters and my Sister and we attend a Christmas Pudding making night in Eastbourne. It's really lovely to all be together, we have a giggle, enjoy each others company and meet other ladies too. Also the hall smells divine with all the fresh ingredients and of course there are mince pies and mulled wine to enjoy too!

I started with a sheet of Christmas Magic and carefully fussy cut the wreath from the centre of the sheet, leaving the outer frame intact. I then cut a sheet of white canvas cardstock down to an 11" x 11" square and placed it over the reverse side of the cut out sheet to provide a plaid frame.
The cut out wreath was then raised on foam pads all the way round.

In my DT kit I was sent a Seasons Greetings mini stencil, so I used a fine line marker and created the title at the top of the page. From the reverse side of the sheet of 4 x 6 elements I used a bow die and made the red and white polka dot bow for the top of the wreath. The photo was matted with Classic Red Cardstock.

I cut a few different elements from the sheet of 3 x 4 Elements and scattered them around the wreath, using one as a journalling spot, these I also raised on foam pads for a little dimension.
I finished the page by adding a few velvet blooms.

This really is a lovely collection from Simple Stories, there is a vast selection of their goods in the shop HERE and they will cover many occasions ans themes.

Not long til the big day now, so its the perfect time to get some Christmas papers in ready to scrap your new photos that you will have taken this lovely time of year.

Happy Crafting and Happy Christmas to You xx
Warmest Wishes Anita xxx

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone and welcome back to the Papermaze blog!

Merry Christmas to you all and I hope you are enjoying the festive season, creating lots of memories to scrap when the chaos of Christmas is over. I have a scrapbook layout to share with you today using the new Simple Stories Holly Jolly collection. It's a lovely Christmas collection and I've used it to scrap making gingerbread houses.

I knew that I wanted to make a gingerbread house for this page. I cut out a house shape from the Season's Greetings paper. I then used the shape to draw around the roof onto some white bazzill and hand drew a snow effect roof. I cut this out and added it onto the house. I then drew and cut out pieces to form a chimney, a door and windows.

I cut out the wreath from the 2x2 elements and adhered it to the door. I punched out some small circles from the peace and joy patterned paper and placed them on the roof. I used some of the boarder strip from the Combo Stickers at the sides of the house. I finished it off with some nuvo drops and some combo stickers.

To form the base of my layout, I trimmed down some white bazzill cardstock and mounted it on the winter wonderland patterned paper. I then adhered my photos and the gingerbread house. I added some more of the combo stickers and finished with lots more nuvo drops, creating a snowy scene.

Have you checked out the new website? It's looking really fab - take a look here and there's even a Christmas section here.

Thank you so much for looking and I wish you a wonderful Christmas and a very happy new year. See you in 2020!

Anna

X

December Papermaze Kit

Hello - Lynn here today with the December Papermaze kit. This kit is a collection of Christmas papers, but several of them could easily be used for non-Christmas layouts too. Take a look on the fabulous new shop website, for the kit, the products used here, and much more. 

Before looking at the layouts in detail - here is what you will find in the kit.

Patterned papers:
Simple Stories - Holly Jolly collection - Home for the Holidays & Cozy Christmas
Kaisercraft - Under the Gum Leaves collection - Protea
Kaisercraft - Enchanted collection - Imagine
Authentique - Rejoice collection - Rejoice #22
American Crafts - Heidi Swapp - Winter Wonderland collection - Poinsettia Lane
Bazzill cardstock - Fawn & Crabapple Dark

reverse side of papers

Extra Matched Bazzil Cardstock Pack

The extra Bazzill pack is made up of Butter Mints, Mocha Divine, Safari, Grenadine.

Embellishments include: Doily, exclusive star stencil, 50cm twine, 2 paper fern leaves, Prima paper flower, 2 heart buttons, 3 tiny paper roses glittery chipboard star, 20cm lace with velvet ribbon &  strip dots.

Merry Christmas - This layout features a photograph of my daughter having breakfast with her cousins on Christmas Eve when she was doing Panto in Bromley in 2017.

I used Distress Oxide Ink Pads for this layout, for inking all the edges and for working through the stencil. The colours I chose - Aged Mahogany, Fired Brick, Peeled Paint and Crushed Olive.

Starting with Simple Stories Cosy Christmas I gutted the paper to make a frame 2.5cm deep all round. I tore the edges of the Butter Mints Bazzill to reduce the size to 28cm x 28cm. 


I trimmed some of the images from the Authentique - Rejoice #22 paper, I used both sides of this sheet and arranged them and the photo onto the Bazzill, I lightly marked where they would be with a pencil and removed them again. Then with the Papermaze exclusive star stencil I inked several times with the Distress Oxide above and below the photo and a smaller amount at the bottom left of the page.

Next all the images and photo were put back in place and stuck down, some onto the page, and others raised with 3D foam pads.

With the glittery chipboard star from the kit, I added a little Safari Bazzill to fill the centre. From my stash I added some red dew drops, some Pebbles - Merry, Merry puffy stickers, a gold and white paper straw, a Tim Holtz Ideology Quote Chip and two yellow star pins.

As many of the paper's images had the word 'Merry', I die cut the word 'Christmas' from Safari Bazzill with the Sizzix Thinlit set - Retro Merry Christmas. I made this shiny with some Glossy Accents.

I added my journalling beneath the straw pieces and then made my stenciled stars glitter with some Crystal Stickles. 

Heartfelt and Homemade - for this layout I used this favourite photo of my three babies wearing the Christmas Pudding hats I knitted for them in 1992. I have scrapped this photo before, but to keep things fair it has to be done three times so there is one of each of their albums! 

I was inspired by a layout on the Kaisercraft site by Trudi Harrison as a good starting point for my page. I loved both sides of the Winter Wonderland - Poinsettia Lane paper, and always love a strip pattern. So I divided the paper in half and flipped one half to give me vertical stripes at the bottom and the flowers at the top of the layout. With the Grenadine Bazzill, (I gutted the card to leave a frame of 2.5cm and set this aside for next time). With the remainder Grenadine I die cut some lace using the Crochet Sizzix Thinlits set and stuck this along the join between the two papers. Then I mounted my photo onto the same colour Bazzill. I tucked three small doilies under the photo. Then built up the decoration with more Sizzix Thinlit dies and a selection of Bazzill from the kit, with the addition of cream and yellow Bazzill from my stash. The swirls were cut with the Adorned set and gold metallic card. Most of the flowers and greenery were die cut with the Large Festive Funky set and the fir cones with the Festive Greens set. I inked some of the Safari Bazzill pieces with Forest Moss Distress Oxide Ink to give another shade of green to the leaves.

I arranged all the elements around the photo, sticking them only partly to the page to allow some movement. The berries and the poinsettia centers were made shiny with Glossy Accents. 


I cut the 'Heartfelt and Homemade' sentiment from the Authentique - Rejoice #22 paper and double mounted it with gold and Grenadine Bazzill, this was raised up with 3D foam pads and attached to the bottom right of the page. 

I added Nuvo Crystal Drops - Simply White Gloss, in various size blobs around the greenery.

I will be back with more layouts from this kit soon.
Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Doodlebug Design - Candy Carnival Scrapbook Layout - Halloween Party

Hello, Rebecca back with my third layout created using the Candy Carnival Collection by Doodlebug Design.

I decided I wanted to have a little play with some mixed media for this layout so chose to use white cardstock for my background. I used a Tim Holtz Distress Ink Sray in ' Twisted Citron' to add some bright green to the background using the packaging technique. I then added some small ink splatters using a Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad in 'Black Soot'. I covered an area just large enough that it would peep out behind my photos.

I mounted my photos on white cardstock to help them 'pop' off the page and then matted them on two 'journal card' style cut-aparts, which I cut from the Spook-tacular' paper. I then mounted them both on the 'Prize Wheel' patterned paper to add some more colour to the layout.

I decided the layout needed 'more'. So I tore a small section from the top of the page, and a large section from the bottom. I then backed them with two of the patterned papers from the collection - 'Big Top' and the reverse of  'Star Attraction'.

I fussy-cut some of the bigger stars from the 'Star Attraction' paper and then used a star hole punch to cut some smaller ones to add either side of my photo cluster.

I added my title 'Halloween Party' using a piece from the Odds & Ends Chit Chat pack because the photos were taken at our friend's farm during our annual NCT antenatal group Halloween get-together. I also added a few more embellishments from the pack around the edges of the photos. I finished the embellishing off by adding some chipboard bats from the Simple Stories - Say Cheese Halloween Chipboard Stickers Sheet and a spider and a couple of word stickers from my stash.

I hope you've enjoyed this layout. This will probably be my last blog of the year - so Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. See you in 2020!

Take care,

Rebecca x

November Papermaze Kit - Part 2

It's Lynn back with the second set of layouts created with the November Papermaze Kit.
This kit contains a wonderful selection of colours and designs all put together by Vanessa making yet another great value for money collection. As always the kit is just £10 with the additional Bazzill pack for £1.75.

What is in the kit this month?:

Patterned Paper:
American Crafts, Vicki Boutin - Wildflower and Honey collection - Blossom, Field of Dreams & Queen Bee
Pink Paislee - Indigo & Ivy - #12
Simple Stories - Happy Trails - I Love You S'more
Simple Stories - Winter Farmhouse - Warm & Cozy
Bazzill - Cream Puff & Ruby Slipper

The flip side of the papers:

Extra matching Bazzill pack:

Jade, Carob, Festive and Rain.

Embellishments - 12" x 6" Butterflies Printed Vellum, 3 strips of washi tape, 30cm twine, 30cm cotton lace, strip of 5 gems, 3 brown flowers, 1 Petaloo blossom, pearl swirl, 2 exclusive lazer cut wooden hexagon words.


Wellies and A Tutu ... all a girl needs! This layout features photos of Jasmine having a great time in the New Forest.

I liked both sides of the Warm & Cosy paper and they both worked with these pictures, so I gutted the paper leaving a 3cm frame (large print up), and trimmed the rest to measure 20cm x 20cm (small print up). I cut the Carob Bazzill to 28cm x 28cm. All the edges were distressed and inked. I mounted my photos onto some of the Festive Bazzill, and treated them in the same way. The pieces were all arranged onto the layout and stuck in place.

Then with some left over Jade, Carob and Festive Bazzill I die cut the title with Bigz Sizzix Handmade die. I placed the letters where I wanted them to go and added some Glossy Accents to 'Wellies and A', and for the word 'Tutu' I used Stickles because this word just needs to sparkle!

Using scraps of the Bazzill from the kit and my stash, I die cut lots of leaves, fronds, berries, acorns, fir cones, flowers and toadstools. I used two Sizzix Thinlits die sets by Tim Holtz for these - Funky Festive and Funky Foliage.

I inked the pieces and layered them up where needed, some were glued to the layout and others raised with 3D foam pads for dimension. 

I made a journalling tag with a piece of paper cut from the sheet called Blossom, the tie is twine from the kit. The remaining twine was used to tie the bow placed under the photo on the right.

Finally I scattered a few dots of Nuvo Crystal Drops - Metallic Caramel Cream among the die cuts.

Swiss Cottage This layout is an old picture I have wanted to scrap for years, and shows my girls on the Isle of Wight, autumn half term 1999, when we visited Osborne House.

I gutted the Ruby Slipper Bazzill to make a frame 2.5cm deep. The Cream Puff Bazzill was trimmed to 29cm x 29cm, and with the Crafter's Workshop Chicken Wire Reversed Stencil and a selection of Distress Oxide Ink Pads I created a light background pattern with a blending tool. Then I placed some ink from the pads onto a craft mat, spritzed them with a little water and flicked some onto the cardstock. This was set aside to dry.

I gutted the paper called Queen Bee to make a frame of 2.5cm and set the frame aside for another layout. Then with the Memory Box Hexagon Dies, I cut the shapes from the remaining paper. Inked the edges and arranged them on the paper with the photo, which I had mounted onto some Ruby Slipper Bazzill. 

I coloured the two exclusive wooden hexagon words with some Distress Oxide Ink. These were then made shiny with some Glossy Accents and set aside to dry, then added to the arrangement on the layout. 

I took three of the pink vellum butterflies left over from the earlier layouts, and applied them to the layout with a small dot of Glossy Accents. 

From the paper called Blossom, I cut a small journalling block, and inked the edges, wrote out my information and glued it to the page.


I used the Petaloo flower from the kit and placed it between photo and journalling block. Then I added fronds punched from the Blossom paper with a Martha Stewart Punch.

Lastly, I used some old letter stickers from my stash to add the title.

I have created four layouts with this kit so far, and still have plenty of paper, card and embellishments left to make another layout or some cards. In fact as you can see I have already started work on my next layout!

 

That's all for today, I'll be back with the December kit soon.
Thanks for looking
Lynn x

Pink Paislee Truly Grateful - Into the Woods

Hello, Karen C here again with my final project using Pink Paislee's Truly Grateful collection by Paige Evans.

I started my layout by trimming a quarter of an inch off of each side of a 12 x 12 sheet of white cardstock and matted this onto a sheet of olive green cardstock.

Using a hexagon die (similar to this one)  I then cut lots of hexagons from the scraps of patterned paper I had left after creating my other projects. I chose the greens and blues from my photo that were found in paper #9 and #3 and also cut a few hexagon from some scraps of green cardstock found in my stash.

The hexagons were arranged on the layout roughly flowing from the top right corner to the bottom left corner and to make then more cohesive I splattered some watered down white acrylic paint on the hexagons and also used a white gel pen to draw faux stitching round the edges.

My photo was matted on white and green cardstock and attached to the layout with some foam underneath to add some dimension. I tucked a white paper doilie and a tag, cut from some of the green cardstock and threaded with green bakers twine, behind the photo.

I used die cuts from the pack of journalling spots and floral cardstock embellishment pack to create two embellishment clusters and to provide a place for some journalling. The centre of one of the die cut flowers was bright pink but as this didn't go with the other colours on my layout I covered it up with a green button.

The title was created using some small navy blue Foam Thickers and the word 'Woods' was die cut from some textured gold cardstock from my stash.

The layout was completed with a few gold sequins and some tiny stars punched from the gold cardstock.

I hope I've inspired you with the projects I've made using the Pink Paislee Truly Grateful collection. It's a very versatile collection and perfect for so many themes. The collection and other collections from Pink Paislee is still available in the shop so hop on over and take a peek.

See you soon and Take Care,

Karen x x