Echo Park ~ Telling Our Story #1 📖

Hi all, it’s Anna back with you today!

April is here and I’m here to share a layout featuring one of the latest collections by Echo Park - Telling our story. You can find the whole collection in the shop here. 

I wanted to step away from using my normal white bazzill background and instead chose one of the patterned papers from the collection - snapshot of our life.

I chose five photos that I wanted to include on this layout and mounted them in coordinating bazzill cardstock from the matchmaker pack. 

I used one of the 4x4 journalling cards to add some journaling and a title. For my title I selected ‘smile’ from the Vicki Boutin Discover + Create phrase stickers. 

I love to use this phrase stickers, they provide great titles for pages, without ending up with lots of leftover alpha stickers where you never have an ‘e’! 

You can find a broad selection of these types of stickers in the shop here. 

I also used a few extra stickers from this pack dotted around my layout. 

I fussy cut florals from Happy little flowers and added them in clusters around my layout. 

I finished by adding various stickers from the element stickers, including the frames which I tucked in around my photos. 

I finished the layout off by adding a few enamel dots. 

Thanks so much for looking! 

I’ll be back later in the month with another layout using this collection, see you then. 

Anna 

x

@acraftylifewithanna 

Heidi Swapp - Set Sail - Unchartered Escape

Hello everyone,

Claire here, back to share my second layout this month using the beautiful Set Sail collection from Heidi Swapp.

For todays layout, I'm featuring lots of ephemera, offset against a mixed media background.

I took a piece of Premium White Cardstock and applied a generous coat of Gesso all over to help it handle the paints and water I would add to the page.

Once it was dry, I took a large leaf stencil from my stash (similar stencils can be found here and here) and positioned it diagonally, knowing my photo would sit in the middle of the two leaves. I applied some clear embossing paste, leaving to dry.

Using the colours in the collection as a guide, I mixed some blue and peachy watercolours and painted directly onto the paper, using a medium sized paintbrush to guide the paint around the page.

When the paint hits the dry texture paste, it acts as a resist, so you can see the image of the leaf coming through the colour. This is a lot clearer at the top of the page where the paint is darker. When the paint was dry, I added splatters in white and gold to create a bit more interest.

I repeated the paint colours in the top right corner to help balance the page.

I backed my photo using the Strip Page paper and a piece of blue cardstock from the Matchmaker pack. For a bit of extra seaside sparkle, I also added a gold foiled ephemera journaling piece which I used as a layer underneath the top edge of my photo.

To create an anchor for my photo, I tore 2 strips of the Cut Aparts paper as the 'b' side is a sandy coloured paper with a textural pattern. I thought this would look good as sand!

I placed my photo on top, raising on foam and then pulled out all those lovely ephemera pieces to create some clusters.

I used a combination of shells from the Cardstock Stickers and fussy cut from the Logo Cut Apart sheet. I stuck some of these flat, and raised others on foam to create height.

I layered some deco web, art stones and moss around the cluster to create extra interest, and added some small chipboard embellishments from P13 and a ticket, fussy cut from the Tags paper.

To extend the height of my cluster, I pulled out the palm trees form the Ephemera Pack and tucked these into the top of my cluster.

I also added a few small banners just above and of course, one of those lovely seagulls on top.

On the other side of the photo, I extended the ripped paper by adding some strips of coloured paper which I cut form the Strip Page paper. 

I cut the ends into fishtails to create a banner shape, and added some more chipboard pieces from P13.

For my title, I added some of those gold foiled puffy stickers - wow! These are really beautiful, and are such a statement piece for your layouts. They really elevate the page.

To finish, I added some ephemera and a fussy cut ticket into the top cluster, to stretch the design and balance the layout.

I have totally fallen in love with this collection! The colour palette, the ephemera, the gold foiling...really beautiful. 

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the layouts made.

Until next month, happy scrapping!

Claire xx

@Scrappysoulmate

Shimelle ~ Main Character Energy #1 ☀️

Hi, it’s Anna back with you today!

For my next few blog posts I will be working with American Crafts collaboration with Shimelle - Main Character Energy. 

You can find the collection in the shop here. 

I used the ‘Right on Target’ paper and trimmed it down to achieve various sized wedges. I cut each section out and distressed the edges before adhering to white bazzill cardstock. 

My layout features a photo from Disney last year with me meeting Olaf! We were given the circular cards with his autograph on and this card just happened to fit perfectly into the pre determined circle lines on this paper. So I chose to centre this card in the middle and place my photo to the left side. 

I fussy cut some florals from the Prettiest Pink paper and placed them above and below my photograph which I mounted onto some orange bazzill cardstock from the Matchmaker Pack. 

I selected various stickers from the Cardstock Stickers, I placed some of the phrase stickers around the circle and used others to embellish around my photo. 

For my title, I used some phrase stickers by Vicki Boutin and the smaller yellow alphas are by Simple Stories - alpha sticker books. 

Thanks so much for looking! I’ll be back with another layout with this collection in September! 

See you then! 

Anna 

@acraftylifewithanna

Paige Evans ~ Blooming Wild #1 🌼

Hi all, it’s Anna here. I’m working with the beautiful Blooming Wild collection by Paige Evans this month. You can find the whole collection in the shop here. 

For my first layout I have focused on using Paper #22, the ‘b’ side of this paper has a wonderful sunburst rainbow pattern, which I really wanted to use…so I grabbed one of my favourite selfies and began creating…

I started by choosing the colours of the sunburst that coordinated best with the colours on my photo. I knew that I definitely wanted to keep the pinks and the blues. I left out some of the colours that didn’t work so well and left those sections for my white bazzill cardstock to show. 

I used my distressing tool to lightly distress the edges of each of the coloured sections. 

I mounted my photo onto the ‘b’ side of paper #2 and adhered it in the centre of my layout. I then fussy cut several of the florals from the same paper and tucked them in around my photo, layering them in two clusters. 

I then pulled out the cardstock stickers and selected butterflies, flowers and hearts to add around my clusters of florals. 

I added a title using Puffy phrase stickers from a previous Paige Evan’s collection, Wonders. 

I also found two small tags/journal spots from my stash to add the date and location of my photo.

Finally, I finished my layout by adding some Nuvo Drops along the edges of the starbursts, I used various colours of the glitter drops to do this. 

Thanks for looking! 

See you later in the month with another layout using this collection. 

Anna

X

Photoplay ~ Frostival #2

Hey, it’s Anna here. Just popping in to share my second layout this month using Photoplay Papers’ Frostival collection. I love this collection, it has all of your winter needs covered! I really like the colour scheme, which allows it to be used for other kinds of pages, compared to the traditional winter collections. 

My last layout focused on the ‘snowy’ elements to the collection. You can see it here. 

For this layout, I’ve gone with more of a Christmas/Winter Wonderland feel…

I used the outer heart shaped piece of navy cardstock that was leftover from my last layout. I trimmed it down by approximately 2cm to allow for a boarder. I then chose the ‘hot cocoa’ paper (as seen below) and trimmed each of the strips. I distressed the edges and inked them slightly. I then mounted them onto a sheet of white cardstock, (Coordinating cardstock shades can be found in the matchmaker pack) leaving a very small gap in between each strip. I adhered the navy heart cardstock on top and then hand stitched around the edge of the heart using white thread.

I mounted my photograph onto red cardstock from the matchmaker pack and the b side of ‘Warm & Cozy’. I then pulled out the ‘element stickers’ and chose a few pieces to use. I mounted the tag onto some Kraft cardstock and added some thread. I continued to add some stickers, forming a cluster around the photo.

I selected a title sticker from the Crate Paper Busy Sidewalks- Hustle & Bustle Phrase Stickers. I went for the phrase ‘winter wonderland’ and also added a few of the snowflakes.

To finish, I added some sequins and jems. To create a more natural look for these - I find it’s best to gently drop them onto the layout and adhere them roughly where they land. 

Thanks so much for looking! 

See you again soon with the absolutely gorgeous new Pebbles collection - Kid at Heart 

Anna

X

'Hot Cocoa and Cookies' Holly Days Simple Stories by Meg

Hello everybody! It's the 22nd already - how did that happen?! And if you're anything like me, you still need to do your gift buying and wrapping but have been busy scrapping instead ha ha!

Here's my latest page, create using Simple Stories' Holly Days. This is a wonderfully festive collection and even a small amount as shown here can make your page feel warm and Christmassy! 

I started by picking out my photos and I wanted to use these three of my son decorating Christmas biscuits - they went really well with the Vicki Boutin Warm Wishes Puffy Phrase Sticker sentiments 'Hot Cocoa' and 'Cookies'. I used these puffy stickers on my last Holly Days page and I really love how they look together! I adhered my little photos to white cardstock to make them look like mini Polaroids and decided I wanted them to be a square formation in the centre of my page. 

I had some fussy cut elements from the Tags paper that I played with to decide which piece would be the final 'square' in my grid and chose the little snowman in his snowglobe, but Santa was a close second!

I cut out a square of white cardstock and folded the edges up to create a sort of diamond shaped 'tray' which I really liked the look of. I cut a second slightly larger square of the patterned paper Let's Get Cozy to layer behind, plus a square of blue Bazzill Jetstream cardstock and red Bazzill Cherry Splash cardstock in the same size. I offset these behind to create a blue side and a red side! 

After sticking these bits down and using foam to pop the little snowman up, I started embellishing around my photos. I used the fussy cut little car and Merry Christmas banner from the Tags paper, the 'Holiday', 'Hot Cocoa' and 'Cookies' sentiments from the Vicki Boutin Warm Wishes Puffy Stickers, some fussy cut snowflakes from the other side of the Let's Get Cozy paper, some red thread to handstitch some large lines around the edge of my centre diamond and I scattered a few little mirrored stars around to finish. My journaling is tucked in there too, on the diagonal. 

And that's it! My second page using Holly Days. I hope you like it and I'll leave you now to your festivities! Thank you so much for popping by and I hope you have a very Merry Christmas! 

Meg x 

Simple Stories Holly Days - 'Warm Wishes' by Meg

Hey hey everyone! 

It's getting close to Christmas now and I'm sure you've been busy! As have we on the Papermaze Design Team, scrapping with some wonderfully festive collections 😃 

I'm here today to show you a page I've made using Simple Stories 'Holly Days' - I always love Simple Stories for their fun and cheery designs, so I am so super excited to be sharing this with you today! 

I had the Holly Days Chipboard Frames in my pack so the first thing I did was open that packet up to pick out my favourite frames! One that really caught my eye was this one I used in the centre of my design, with the sweet little houses on it. 

This chipboard frame was actually a double frame and at first I thought I was going to use both sides but then I ended up deciding I only wanted to use it as a single frame and layer around it, so I cut it apart with my scissors to create a single frame instead. 

I decided I wanted to create a diagonal design and so I cut a triangle out of the Holly Days Let's Get Cozy paper to make a gentle snowy slope on the bottom of my page. After that it all seemed to come together naturally! I positioned the chipboard frame on the top and the middle of the slope and cut out a house from the other side of the chipboard frame, plus another fussy-cut house from the Home For Christmas paper, which I arranged either side of my chipboard frame to create like a little street of houses! 

I had already sorted through my photos and had picked out my Christmas/Winter photos ready to possibly use with this collection, so I had a quick look through and picked out these three photos of my two children and arranged them either side of the chipboard frame, using a section of another frame to frame my smaller photos on the left and another piece of chipboard frame on the right to create a trio and balance out the page. 

I tucked some pom pom trim under the chipboard frame for some texture and because I love it, it just makes a page feel so Christmassy! There was a banner on the top of the frame that said 'Merry Christmas' but I'd cut it in half and it only said 'Merry', so I used a Warm Wishes Puffy Phrase Thicker sticker by Vicki Boutin American Crafts that said 'family times' to cover it up. These puffy stickers go so nicely with the Holly Days collection and have lovely festive sentiments, so I used two more to create another trio around the page and some golden puffy stars. I also added a snowman that I'd fussy cut from the Holly Days Tags paper, some Bramble Fox red heart Perspectives and a big red bow to add a few more pops of red. 

I added blue Jetstream Bazzill cardstock to the top and bottom of the page which matched the other blues perfectly, plus some strips of Let's Get Cozy paper to the top of the page. I finished with some blue crystal and pearl flatback gems on each of the snowflakes at the bottom of the page for some sparkle and shine!

I hope you've enjoyed seeing my layout today and that you get a chance for a little scrappy downtime during this busy season - I'll be back again soon with another Wintery layout!

Merry Christmas and lots of love from our family to yours,

Meg x