Friday, 31 July 2026

The Happiest Place & DIY Cute Paper Clips

 


Hiya,

Lisa here playing with my new travel journal and the cute collection from Simple Stories - Say Cheese - Happiest Place, which you can see here. 

I do also have a YouTube video making this spread which you can see here.


This is the paper that inspired this journal spread.

I had a lot of photos from our Disneyland California trip but I didn't want to overload the page with photos, so I created lots of flips. Lots of places to hide them.



This is when the DIY clips also came in as I needed them to hold things down in place LOL
I had a lot going on.
The clips are so fun. I have 2 on this page.
And I added one to this tag too.
Just using paperclips and a hot glue gun to attach fun things to make the clip.

Here I have a flair button, I also used a button and a fabric embellishment. 



These tags are so handy. I've used them a lot for hidden journaling and photos.




The top piece then flips up and there's lots of photos underneath.


And more underneath.


I love all the bits and pieces.



 
I used these pieces a lot which were so handy.
I created this flip with the Mickey piece. 




And then on the other side.


Another flip at the bottom.
You can see more of the clips that I made too here.
4 more : )


And I've used lots of these matching stickers too.


They really make the page.
I love adding extra colours and details.


I hot glued a piece of ribbon to create a bellyband and this held in more photos and journaling.




  There is a lot going on here, but I love a busy full journal with lots of colour, so I love it : )

I hope this has inspired you today.
Have fun

Lisa x

Monday, 27 July 2026

Simple Stories - Open Road - Explore

Hello!

Claire here, and I'm back with another layout documenting my adventures with the Open Road collection from Simple Stories. 

This time, rather than focusing on Road trip photos, I've opted to document the outdoors.


I just love the colours and patterns in this collection so set about creating mountains from patterned papers. I used Journal Elements, You Are Here and Roadside Memories for thr two smaller pink mounting that are slightly hidden behind my photos.

To anchor the page, and add more colour, i really wanted to incorporate the map patterned paper called On Our Way! It seemed very fitting for an outdoor page and conveys the 'explore' theme of the layout.


I mounted my photos with the Adventure Awaits paper, offsetting them across the mountain scape.

To help balance the page, I added a tag under one photo to stretch the design out to the right, which i cut from the Tag paper.


Next, I went to the Cardstock Stickers Icons, adding trees, mountains, geotags and clouds to help bring the page to life. I also used the Edplore sticker for my title.



From the Floral Bits & Pieces, i chose a few leaves and flowers and clustered these on either side of my photos.

As a finishing touch I added some Nuvo drops to the top of the mountains to mimic snow.

Thank you for joining me on the blog today. You can check out the Open Road collection in the shop here.


Happy scrapping!


Claire xx

@scrappysoulmate 










Wednesday, 22 July 2026

Simple Stories ~ Sweet Summertime #2

Hi everyone and welcome back to the Papermaze blog. 
Today I'm sharing my second layout using Simple Stories, Sweet Summertime - which you can find in the shop here


To create this layout I began with a sheet of white bazzill cardstock. 
I then cut out a circle from the b side of  Backyard Memories and adhered it to the centre of the cardstock, leaving a gap around the edge so I could tuck in the florals. 
I fussy cut lots of flowers from Backyard Memories and began tucking them around the edge of the circle. It didn't matter if they weren't full flower shapes as just half was showing. So it's a good opportunity to use flowers from the edges of the patterned paper. 


I then printed my three photos and positioned them in the circle. I used an alphabet medal die to cut out the letters for my title on white cardstock. 


I then added some stickers from the cardstock stickers around the layout including some more florals!




A simple layout that came together quite quickly! But hopefully quite effective and easily replicated. 

Thanks so much for looking! 

See you again next month. 

Anna
x

@acraftylifewithanna

Monday, 20 July 2026

July Papermaze Kit - Part 1

Lynn here today, with the pretty pastel July Papermaze Kit. Such a lovely kit with double-sided papers, Bazzill cardstock and a selection of embellishments. I have created my first two layouts using the 49 and Market - 'From The Garden' papers included in the kit. 



Before looking at how the layouts were made - here is a peek at what you will find in the kit.


49 and Market - From The Garden collection - Wildflower & Foxglove
49 and Market - Travel Diaries collection - Sheet 1
Graphic 45 - Always & Forever collection - Regency Blue Pattern & Solid Sheet
Uniquely Creative - Tea & Tranquillity collection - Quiet Daydreams & Garden Sanctuary

This photo shows both side of the papers:



Embellishments:
2 Petaloo Flowers
1 Craft Consortium Dragonflies
1 Dovecraft Frame
3 Rosie’s Studio Jubilee Wax Seals
3 Uniquely Creative Ticket Washi Tape Stickers
50cm Twine
1 Mintay Chipboard Clock


Bazzill Basics Cardstock
Lagoon, Twig (included in kit), Avalanche, Smoky, Petunia & Nixon (extra Bazzill pack)




Polly - Mary who was always known as 'Polly', her maiden name was Edwards, and her married name was Pond (Polly Pond). This is one of my husband's relatives, an interesting photo for the detail including her rather large wrist watch. 



The base of this layout is the 
Twig Bazzill with torn strips of both sides of Wildflower paper, to both sides of the page. I mounted the photo onto another piece cut from the scraps of the Wildflower paper.  

With the title letters cut from some chipboard and the Mintay clock face from the kit, 
(cut in two pieces), I set about dry embossing everything with copper embossing powder. I also cut the title letters from Nixon Bazzill. The letters were cut using a Tim Holtz - Sizzix Bigz XL Die - Wonderland.  


I created three different sized tags using the Tim Holtz, Sizzix Thinlits - Tag collection die set. I cut these from more of the Wildflower paper. 


I selected some Laser Cut Elements from the 
49 and Market - From The Garden collection. This included a wooden hanging sign, which I made into a date plaque - cutting the numbers on my Cricut using Petunia & Nixon Bazzill.


I inked the edges of my cut shapes and elements, using Gathered Twigs Distress ink. I used some green seam binding ribbon to tie at the tops of the tags.


I selected the 
Uniquely Creative Ticket Washi Tape Stickers from the kit. All the elements, papers photo, tags etc were arranged on the page then help in place with either glue or 3D foam pads. 


Journalling was added to the larger tag. Finally, I placed the 
Petaloo Flowers and leaf to the top left of the photo. 



Feeding the Ducks - This cute picture of the triplets, was an ideal match for the pretty colours in these papers. The layout is a scrap lift of my own work - a page I made a few weeks ago. (included at the bottom of this post). 


This time, I used the smooth side of the 
Avalanche Bazzill for the base. I chose the Tim Holtz Layering Stencil THS077, and a selection of Distress Oxide Inks. With brushes I applied colour through the stencil, then lightly spritzed the page with water to allow the ink to wick slightly. I also splattered some of the wet ink over the page. 


I tore pieces from the 
Foxglove paper, selecting areas from the paper I wanted to feature. I layered these up on the page (see photos), together with pieces cut from the Nixon Bazzill.


The photo was mounted on more of the Foxglove paper. The above was all arranged on the dry background card. I added two doilies, left over from a previous Papermaze kit. 


I created a title on the Cricut, and cut it twice - with Nixon Bazzill and Foxglove paper scraps. These were mounted over one another to create a shadow, and arranged down the centre of the layout. 

The little dragonfly charm was tied to the paper beneath the photo using twine (both from the kit). My journalling was added to a tag, also made from the Foxglove paper. 


I selected the three flag banners from the 49 and Market 'From The Garden' Laser Cut Elements pack, and strung them along the top of the layout. To the right side of the layout, I added one of the 
Rosie’s Studio Jubilee Wax Seals from the kit and another laser cut element. 


Three clusters of paper flowers were created using blossoms from my stash. Finally, I dotted some Raspberry Pink Nuvo Crystals Drops over the layout.


Here is my original layout, showing my daughter as St Valentine at a flower festival (LARP event). The papers are from my stash and the Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Sand and Sea - Rest & Relax paper.


That's all for today, back with more from this kit soon.
Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Friday, 17 July 2026

Mintay Paper - Summer Highlands - Wildflower Smile

Hello, Karen back today with a final layout using the Summer Highlands collection from Mintay Papers. My layout today uses another heavily patterned paper so I kept the layout very simple with minimal embellishments and a single, large photo.


I started with a sheet of Paper #4, which I trimmed down slightly and layered onto a sheet of white cardstock to create a narrow border around the edge. 


For a  touch of texture, I added some machine stitching around the edge of the paper using white thread.


I matted my photo with white cardstock and some woodgrain paper from the 6x8 Add-On Paper Pack, finishing it with some machine stitching around the edge. 

Using my craft knife, I carefully sliced a slit around some of the printed flowers on the background paper. This created a slot to tuck my matted photo into, blending the photo into the floral design.

Under the right edge of the photo, I tucked a honeycomb die-cut. Choosing to cut this from green cardstock was a way to echo the green tones found in the rest of the layout and also added  a bit of texture.

Since this collection doesn't include large alphabet embellishments, I decided to make my own faux chipboard letters. I die-cut my title letters once from the woodgrain patterned paper and then cut the same letters four times from white cardstock. Using wet adhesive, I stacked and glued them all together. This is the perfect way to create a sturdy title from papers in the collection that coordinates perfectly with your layout.

I placed the title at the bottom of the layout, finishing it off with the word "smile" cut from  gold mirror card.

I printed a few words onto a kraft tag and tied this to one of the title letters with some neutral twine.


Next, I fussy-cut a few creatures from Paper #9 and the Add-On Paper Pack to scatter across the page. I also dug into my stash and found a couple of leftover die-cuts from the Wildwood Secrets collection I used last year. Wildwood Secrets coordinates beautifully with Summer Highlands and it's still available in the shop if you want to mix and match them yourself.

Finally, I scattered a few gold sequins here and there.

Thank you for stopping by today. I really have enjoyed using this collection and will be eagerly awaiting Mintay's next collections.

Until next time, Take Care

Karen x x