Pinkfresh Studios, Keeping it Real - 'You are the Sprinkles to my Ice Cream' by Meg

Hello! Happy Monday and welcome to the blog today!

It’s Meg and I’m over the moon to be sharing my first ever Papermaze project with you, using the beautiful Pinkfresh Studio ‘Keeping it Real’ collection.

I really love these papers – the colours are incredibly fresh and versatile, the quality and thickness of the paper is noticeable and the collection itself lends itself to all kinds of themes and events easily.

 

I was so inspired by the patterned paper Daily Grind – I couldn’t decide whether to use it as a background paper, to use a smaller area of it or to fussy cut it (the options are so limitless with this paper, I ended up buying a second sheet!), but I really loved the sweet little ice creams and so I eventually decided to pair it with an ice cream cutfile I had seen by Peartree Cutfiles. The cutfile actually included two ice creams but I only wanted one, so I enlarged it, cut it out with my Cricut and placed it on my Daily Grind background paper to wait for more inspiration to strike.

Placing the cutfile on the paper helped me to decide that the patterned paper would be too busy and stood out too much behind the ice cream, so I backed the ice cream cone and wafer sticks in the more subtle striped patterned paper Tiny Victories and decided I would keep the ‘ice cream’ part white, but with some mixed media ‘sauce’ and sprinkles. The sprinkles came from my stash, but Doodlebug Design do similar sprinkles.

I dabbed some pink acrylic on to the ice cream with some kitchen roll and backed the cherry in red, from a small part of the Big Mood striped paper. Following this, I noticed the cute ‘Enjoy’ flag with ‘the little things’ written underneath on the Reality Check paper, which I thought would just be perfect poking out of the top of the ice cream. I fussy cut it out and carefully poked a couple of holes in it so that I could use embroidery thread to attach it to a cocktail stick! I saved the ‘the little things’ sentiment and used it as an embellishment later on, as I love using up tiny pieces and not letting anything go to waste!

I absolutely love patterned or cut-apart paper that can be fussy cut, turned into tags or embellishments as it really makes your money stretch further and you can create such unique pieces.

Next, I placed the ice cream onto white Bazzill Avalanche cardstock (which is definitely my favourite white cardstock because of the subtle linen texture it adds to the page) but with the ice cream also being in white, it just seemed to fall a little flat on the page. I moved the Daily Grind paper around with the Avalanche cardstock and ice cream to decide which combination fitted the best, but every which way I moved the paper (with half and half, more of patterned paper and less of the white, more of the white and less of the patterned), it just seemed to be ‘too much’ or ‘not enough’! I considered changing the ice cream colour on the cutfile to pink or even yellow, but I liked the way the sprinkles and sauce stood out on the white. Eventually I tried adding the pink Bazzill Romance cardstock between the white Avalanche and the Daily Grind paper and I found that it really worked well as a bridge of colour between the two and really brought out the colours in the Daily Grind. It was at this point I decided to go with the large banner shape that I cut the Avalanche cardstock out of and to use the Daily Grind paper to be a secondary banner behind the white and to repeat the vertical lines either side of the page.

Once I had decided the shape placement on the page, I started to get down to the nitty-gritty embellishing! I dripped some more pink mixed media ‘sauce’ down the page behind where the ice cream would be, topped it with some darker pink paint drips and some gold to the ice cream cone before adhering the ice cream, matted my photo twice in the Romance and Avalanche and began picking out florals from the Floral Cardstock Die Cut pack that worked best with the layouts colour scheme – I chose mostly pink, yellow and blue flowers and arranged them around the photo in colour triangles to bring attention to the photo in the centre.

After I had stuck down the floral dies, I stuck down the ‘the little things’ that I had saved when I made the flag earlier, a few puffy stickers and thought about my title for the page. I went with ‘You are the Sprinkles to my Ice Cream’ to go with the ice cream cutfile and I decided to stamp it on using stamps from my stash as I was running a little short of alpha thickers (don’t worry, I’ve been on a shopping spree and fixed that now)!

I decided to add another small cluster of floral die cuts and the blue teapot puffy sticker on the other side of the page to balance out the large cutfile and I finished with some journalling to tell the story of the photo.

 

Thank you for looking at my page today and I hope you feel inspired to give the beautiful Keeping it Real collection a try – the colours are stunning and will make you smile!

Have a lovely week and I hope you pop by again soon – I will be back again too at some point this month to show you how I use more of the collection.

Take care,

Meg x

'Wander' by ScrappyAdam... Simple Stories 'Safe Travels' Collection

Happy Scrappy Saturday!

It has been a busy few weeks for me but I am so happy to be back on the Papermaze blog sharing a new layout using the new Simple Stories collection, Safe Travels. I absolutely love this collection - it is travel themed but it can be used for so much more especially with the travel restrictions of today. I loved my DT Pack and then bought the rest of the collection - like I always do!

I have used it to document a photo from a three week road trip across Europe we took in 2019. I have so many photos from this trip to document - I have so many photos to document! Do you scrap chronologically? Or are you more of a random scrapper like me? I scrap whatever photo I feel like depending on what I am working with! 

I took inspiration from Day 3 of Scrap Squad's '12 Days of Spring Scraplifts' over in the Scrap Squad Facebook group. I don't do scrap lifts all that often, even though I have a huge virtual pile on my phone and it was nice to have the starting inspiration for a change. I did change the orientation of my layout from the scraplift for Day 3. 

I took a sheet of White Bazzill as my background. I don't use white backgrounds all that much so that was a nice change.I started with two strips each of the papers Happy Travels, Weekend Vibes and Take Me Somewhere. I decided to tear these strips and had one large strip at the bottom and two smaller layered behind this and three smaller strips on the top. I did intentionally make it very textured with tearing and distressing the edges. 

I added my photo, slightly bigger than a 3x4" and used a Chipboard Frame to highlight the photo and layered a sticker to create a subtitle with the words already on the frame. 

To the top right, I added a cluster using the adhesive brads and enamel dots as well as a couple of stickers from the sticker book. 

I wanted to add more because there was a lot of white space left for me! If you've seen my layouts before then you know I don't do white space often at all! So I added a big foam sticker, some washi tape strips, brads and stickers as well as a rub on from my stash. 

That's pretty much it! Quite a simple page for me - with quite a bit of white space for me! Hope you have enjoyed it and I will hopefully be back with another Safe Travels project very soon!

 

In the meantime, pop along and have a look at all the other amazing creations on the blog, have a happy scrappy Saturday and stay safe and take care!

Adam x

My Boy - P13 Paper Products - Soulmate

Hello, it's Rebecca with you today sharing my first layout for April. I can't believe how fast this month is going! I had so much fun last month designing with P13's 'Beyond the Sea' that I've chosen another of their collections to work with this month - 'Soulmate'. I have to say, it is equally as beautiful and I'm really enjoying it so far!

I decided I was going to challenge myself to create another layout without white cardstock! I selected Paper #7 for my background and trimmed down Paper #6 to 8.5 inches squared to sit on top. I felt that I needed another layer between them to offer some separation so I added a layer of brown Bazzill cardstock from the Matchmaker Pack. I machine stitched around the edges of both squares with white thread to add some detail and texture to the page, and of course I distressed all the edges.

I added the same brown Bazzill cardstock behind my photo and added a second mat using Paper #7 (I'd gutted the background sheet before stitching so that it wasn't wasted!). I situated my photo in the top left corner of the layout and then set about fussy-cutting some of the papers!

These P13 collections are fantastic if you enjoy fussy-cutting! Several of the papers are made up of images that you can cut out to make fabulous embellishments. I took some time to cut some of the florals from Paper #2, along with the moths from Paper #3. But it's Paper #7 that I enjoyed cutting the most! It has so many individual images on it that once cut up, it's like having a whole pack of ephemera at your disposal!

Once I had everything cut up, I started to create some clusters around my photo. The florals were the largest elements so I positioned those first, and then slotted everything else in around them. I also added one of the circular stickers from Sticker Sheet #3 with some gold metallic thread behind it.

The collection also comes with a pack of Banner Die Cuts so I selected one of those to position behind my photo, with the fishtail visible underneath. I purposely selected the banner with the big black heart on it as I couldn't see me using it - it's a little bit 'too much' for me!! However, the heart has some flowers at the top of it too - so I ended up fussy-cutting it out and positioning it above my photo to bring some colour to that area of the page.

The bottom section of my layout needed something to balance out the page so I placed a tag from Cardstock Tags #2 which says 'Wild Heart' to the bottom left, with a circular tag from Cardstock Tags #1 beneath it. I also brought some of the gold into this cluster by threading some of the gold thread through the 'Wild Heart' tag.

The Soulmate collection comes with two sets of alpha stickers - I have Sheet #2 which is Navy (Sheet #1 is brown), but I didn't have any other navy tones on the page so they wouldn't have worked for this layout. It was a case of Paper #4 to the rescue! This patterned paper is full of letters so I was able to fussy cut some to spell 'My Boy' - and they work perfectly with the neutral tones of this layout.

I finished my layout off with a scattering of sequins to add a bit of sparkle (who can resist a bit of sparkle?!).

If you'd like to watch the process of this layout coming together, I have a video up on my YouTube channel, which you can find here.

I'll be back later in the month with another 'Soulmate' layout - but in the meantime, if you like the look of this layout then head over to the shop because it's selling out fast!

Take care,

Rebecca x

April Papermaze Kit - Part 1

Lynn here today with the first of two posts showing you what I have created with the April Papermaze Kit. This kit is full of spring & Easter, pretty pastel papers, card and embellishments, including an exclusive acrylic treat!

Here are my layouts:

As always, let's find out what is included in the kit:

Patterned papers:
Simple Stories - Bunnies + Blooms collection - Tags
Echo Park - Welcome Spring collection - Bumblebee Breeze
Echo Park - Welcome Easter - Pastel Petals
Echo Park - Welcome Baby Girl collection - Dreamer Floral
Kaisercraft - Flower Shoppe collection - Conservatory
American Crafts - Paige Evans - Go The Scenic Route - #12
Bazzill Basics - Avalanche & African Daisy

Embellishments:
Large doily, 4 buttons, 12" washi tape, 5 paper flowers, 1 resin rose, diecut polaroid frame, 3lines gold puffy phrase stickers, 3 large pearls, clear stamp, exclusive acrylic phrase.

Extra Bazzil Pack - Quartz, Wisteria, Hillary & Jetstream

Bloom Where You Are Planted - For this layout I used a professional photo of the children taken at a Twins Club event Easter 1998.

The base for this layout is the Echo Park Baby Girl 'Dreamer Floral' paper. I cut an egg shape from the Quartz Bazzill - this is roughly 23cm tall x 16cm wide. I worked around the edge with an eyelet tool making holes about 0.5cm in from the edge and 1cm apart. With some DMC Petra cotton and a 2.5cm hook - I croched around the outer edge of the egg. I only made the stitches where they would show, there are no stitches under the photo.

The large photo was mounted onto some foam and applied over the egg. I chose two tags from the Simple Stories Bunnies & Bloom 'Tags' paper. I inked the edges with Forest Moss Distress Ink. I punched a hole in the top of each tag and applied a large coloured brad through each hole. These were arranged at the top left of the layout, tucked under the egg and photo. A ribbon bow was attached to the top tag.

Using two sets of Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits dies (Funky Nature and Feathered Friends), I cut three eggs, two birds and a selection of leaf fronds. I used Bazzill Hillary, Quartz and African Daisy. I inked the pieces with Forest Moss, Worn Lipstick and Mustard Seed Distress Inks. 

The birds were attached with foam tape to add dimension. The leaves were tucked behind the large bird in the bottom right corner. The eggs with some left over fronds from the leaves were added to make a nest bottom left. The small bird was placed top left of the photo. 

With alpha letter stickers from my stash I added the word 'Easter' and the year to the tags.

Finally I applied the exclusive acrylic phrase from the kit to the top of the egg, and the resin rose to the tags.

Hello Fabulous - A photo of my daughter, delighted with a new sun hat!

For this layout I distressed the edges of the card and paper and inked them with Shaded Lilac Distress Ink. The border of this layout is the Paige Evans - Go the Scenic Route #12 paper, I gutted this to give me a pink floral border 4cm deep. Over this I placed Wisteria Bazzill trimmed to 24.5cm x 24.5cm, and gutted to make a frame 2.5cm deep. Then I topped this off with the Avalanche Bazzill trimmed to 23.5cm x 23.5cm.

Before attaching the Avalance Bazzill I used a floral stencil from my stash and worked some Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide through with a brush. I splattered this with some drops of water to create some oxidation. I also flicked over some Shimmerz Inklingz (Corny Flower Blue) and Shimmerz Spritz (Cotton Candy).

I mounted the photo onto Wisteria Bazzill. I then cut four pieces from the Kaisercraft - Flower Shoppe - Conservatory paper; these were the same size as the photo. I arranged them under where the photo will lay fanned out across the page, with two pieces window side up and two pieces floral side up. The doily from this kit was placed over these and then the matted photo on top.

I cut another tag from the 'Tags' paper, added a brad to the top and strung two lengths of twine through the hole, tying them in a bow. This was tucked under the photo on the right of the layout. My journalling was added to the tag.

I placed a flair badge bottom right to the photo, and flowers from the kit over the page. I added a title using the gold puffy word stickers. Finally I scattered some sequins and sparkly bits over the multi-media on the page. 

That's all for today, back with more soon.

Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Echo Park ~ Magical Birthday Boy #3

Hi all, it’s Anna back with you again! Today I’m sharing my fourth and final layout with the Echo Park magical birthday boy collection. Which you can find in the shop here.

You can see my first layout and blog post here and my second and third layouts here. 

In my first blog post I mentioned that I hoped I’d show you a variety of layouts created with this collection. Although my other layouts have been birthday related as per the theme of the collection. My final layout isn’t birthday related, but is still Disney themed! 

I have used the balloons patterned paper (b side) from the collection as my base. I then used an Echo Park cutfile, which I cut out on vellum to create the castle. 

Around the edge of the vellum castle I created a silver Nuvo drop boarder. 

I fussy cut lots of the clouds and balloons from the tags patterned paper. I adhered some flat and others slightly raised on 3D foam pads. I then used some silver thread to hand stitch the balloons’ string. 

I’ve included a few interactive elements in these magical birthday boy pages and I’ve done it again on this layout! There was some journaling that I wanted to include which is important to the page. So I made the photo into a flap, which opens to reveal two sides of journaling. I used two Project Life journaling cards for this. My reason behind this was because I really didn’t want to go overboard with this layout, I really wanted the castle to be clear to see. If I’d of added too much more to the page or lots of journaling, it would have been a shame to loose the look of the castle. So interactive elements are also a great space saver. 

I added a phrase fussy cut from the birthday fun patterned paper to the top right hand corner along with a couple of the banner stickers from the element stickers and some acrylic embellishments.  

Thanks so much for looking, have a great week! 

I’ll be back soon with a new collection. 

Anna 

X

 

Pebbles, Jen Hadfield - Reaching Out - Let's Celebrate

Hi everyone,

Claire here and this month I am coming to you with the Pebbles, Jen Hadfield, Reaching Out collection which you can find in the shop here.

As soon as I saw American Crafts preview this collection I knew I had to have it. I bought it immediately and am having loads of fun creating with this one. It is a collection of two halves and incredibly versatile. 

There's a very bright, fun and playful side and then there's a more muted soft and pretty side.

For this layout, I have decided to focus on the softer, more muted tones of the collection.

I've had this photo printed for a while but never got around to scrapping it. It was taken in August 2019 on a night out to celebrate mine and Mr Claire's 9th anniversary.

I started with a piece of white Bazzill Cardstock from the Matchmaker pack. For my anchor, I used a piece of the Here for You paper (b side), and tore across the bottom for a more rustic look.

On top of that, I cut a strip of the Over the Rainbow paper. This has got to be one of my favourite sheets of paper in the collection - It has that beautiful white floral design on the 'b' side and those stunning muted rainbows on the 'a' side. I distressed the edges and laid it along the top of the pink gingham paper and added a row of gold nuvo drops underneath.

 

Once it was in place, I fussy cut a strip of rainbows and placed them along the top, raised up on foam pads.

Next, I cut a wide strip of the b side of the Reaching Out paper and tore across the bottom for a rough edge. I added a few rows of machine stitching through the centre and distressed the edges.

I left the threads loose at the end for a bit of extra texture. I layered my photo on some white cardstock and added a layer of tissue paper before placing it on top of the papers.

I set about fussy cutting, using those beautiful florals from the Blossoms for You paper to create some large floral clusters in the top right and bottom left of the photo.

Once these were in place, I started to embellish the layout. From the ephemera pack, I used a smaller floral cluster under the bottom right of my photo and a beautiful butterfly along the top of the rainbows. I also added some gold foiled leaves to the larger floral clusters.

For my title, I used the big 'Celebrate' phrase Hello Phrase Thickers and added the rest of the title using the Navy Puffy Alphabet Thickers.

And that was the page done! I hope you like it.

I will be back in a few weeks time with my next layout, which will feature the bolder, brighter side of this collection and will show you just how versatile it is.

If you like what you have seen, please do head over to the shop and check it out as this collection is proving very popular and is flying off the shelves.

See you soon.

Claire xx

Cocoa Vanilla Studio Sunkissed

Hello. Karen C here again. Today I have a layout to share with you using the new Sunkissed collection from Cocoa Vanilla Studio. If you like bright sunny collections, this is right up your street! The collection celebrates all things Summer and is full of bright juicy colours and is perfect for documenting past and future summer memories. 

My layout today is of my daughter on the beach and uses all the zesty colours in the collection.

Inspiration for my layout came from a sketch on Lets Get Sketchy although I didn't stick too closely to the sketch.

I started with a sheet of the Feeling Fine paper which after trimming a quarter of an inch from each edge I mounted on a 12 x 12 sheet of white Bazzill cardstock and then using a black gel pen drew round the edge. 

I used a hexagonal die to cut several hexagons from papers from the collection as well as from some of the pockets cards, doodled round the edges of these and stuck them on the layout to the left of where my photo was to be placed.

My photo was double matted on white and black cardstock and then placed on the layout with 3D foam underneath.

From the Fun in the Sun cut apart sheet I cut a strip of rainbow stripey paper and placed this next to the photo.  I attached a strip of white cardstock next to this that I punched with a border punch and on top I attached a thin strip of the B side of the Feeling Fine paper. To add some texture I added some cross stitches to the paper strip using white embroidery thread.

One of the pocket cards was added to the layout with 3D foam underneath.

The Growing Wild paper is perfect for fussy cutting and I cut some of the florals from the paper to use as embellishments.

The word Sunkissed was cut from the packaging containing the pocket cards and was placed on top of the fussy cut flowers. 

In the top left corner of the layout I created a cluster with some of the die cut ephemera pieces. 

To complete the layout I used some tiny letter stickers from my stash to add the date and place and dotted some gold sequins around the layout.

I hope I have inspired you to pull out your sunny summer photos and document those memories, or perhaps have a go at using a sketch, The Sunkissed collection is available in the shop now.

Take Care,

Karen x x