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 

A Big Hello! From Meghan

Hello Papermazers, Meghan here!

I'm so excited to be sharing my first ever blog as the newest member of the Papermaze Design Team! I thought I'd start with introducing myself and show some of my favourite scrapbook pages, to hopefully give a flavour of what I'm all about. 

I live in Wiltshire with my husband, 4 year old son, 1 year old daughter and our 10 old cat Pepsi. Before scrapbooking, I dabbled in arts and crafts occasionally but nothing really stuck - then in 2016 when my eldest was born, I decided to create a scrapbook for him. 

At first, I remember looking through Pinterest for inspiration and I was just so overwhelmed by it all. I felt so lost until I came across Facebook groups and I started interacting with the scrapbooking community. From there, I began to learn more about the terms and techniques I had seen on Pinterest but didn't know how to attempt, began to relax and experiment more and as a result, I think my scrapbook style has (quite recently!) come together! 

I really enjoy scrapbooking and I do it most days - I just love the beautiful products that are available (shopping is definitely as big a hobby for me as the actual scrapbooking!), how supportive the scrapbooking community is, seeing all the wonderful creations other scrappers make and of course taking the time to unwind with some paper and glue. It amazes me how 'social' scrapbooking can be, even though it can also be a solitary hobby! 

To show you more about my scrapping style and give you an idea of my upcoming Papermaze projects, I have picked a few of my favourite layouts: 

First I'd like to share this layout I created using Paige Taylor Evans Bloom Street. I started by making the two pinwheels, then I arranged them on my page with my photo, fussy cut the florals and arranged them by colour before using mixed media splatters to coordinate with the fussy cut colours and sticking it all down. This is one of my favourites because of the riot of colour and that fussy cutting was great fun! 

Next up I have this layout, created with Cocoa Vanilla Studios Daydream collection and a cutfile by Peartree Cutfiles. I love a soft, simple layout every now and again and I think this is a good example of that. 

Third layout of mine is this one, using Simple Stories Cozy Days collection and some gorgeous autumnal paper leaves. This page is up there as a favourite because of the texture given by the leaves, the wonderful autumn colours and the effect made by folding back the paper - this is a technique I sometimes do when I can't decide which side of the paper to use!

Finally the last layout I'm going to share with you is a recent one I completed last week, using Paige Taylor Evans Wonder collection and one of her free cutfiles. I started this page with the idea of creating a long multicolour wavy title and the rest went from there! I like how organic the shapes feel on this page and again the beautiful colours. 

Thank you so much for popping in and reading my post - I hope you enjoyed it and I will be back soon to share my layouts using the beautiful Keeping it Real collection! 

In the meantime remember to drop by and check out the other Design Team members projects and take care of yourself! 

Meghan x

Turning Boring Envelopes into Happy Mail & Journal Pockets

 

Hello. Lisa with you today.

I hope you had a lovely Easter weekend.

I have a fun DIY to share with you today.

You can choose to use it as a fun pocket for your journals or for happy mail.

All you need is an envelope and some scrap paper.

Here I'm using a C6 envelope.

I do have a process video here if you fancy seeing how both the happy mail and the journal pockets come together.  

 All you do is cover the envelope in your scraps.

 

I like to lay my envelope down and draw around it. I cut just inside my lines so I have a border.

I then do the inside too. I love using contrasting papers like this.

Here are links to the papers I have used.

Crate Paper - Sunny Days Crate Paper - All Heart Doodlebug Designs - Made with Love Echo Park - Remember the Magic

   

These are my happy mail envelopes which are smaller.

But you can also stick them in your journal to add flip pages.

I've stuck mine in with thick washi here. I've added a small piece of card in the corner which holds my photos in place. 

The photo card pulls out (the piece on the left) and I've journaled on the back and also journaled here on the reverse of the envelope (which sits under the photo card).

When the envelope is flip over you can see how I've made another photo card, this time to be placed inside the envelope. I've added 2 strips of paper to the envelope too for more photos.

 This little pockets holds so many photos and so much journaling.

It's so handy.

I really hope you enjoy this and also give this ago.

Hope you enjoy the video too.

Lisa x

Papermaze March Kit - Part 2

Lynn here today with the second post using the very pretty March kit from Papermaze. Both these layouts feature photos from my daughter's wedding.

Before we look at the process of making the pages, here is a reminder of what you will find in the kit - please see this post for more details.

 

 

Celebrate Together - The photo for this layout shows 18 month old Scarlett, with her Mum and Dad at the wedding.

I started by building up the background with patterned papers from the kit. I used the stripe side of 'Rainbow' paper left over from a previous layout. This is roughly 8cm wide and cut with a wavy curve along one edge. With 'It's A Girl Floral' I followed the shape of the wave and cut a narrow strip about 3cm wide and used this floral side up, I tucked this up closely to the stripe paper. Then I flipped the 'It's A Girl Floral' paper over and used the pink ombre side to cover the rest of the page.

I flicked some Cosmic Shimmer Mist in Rich Gold and some white Distress Paint over the ombre paper. 

I set the sewing machine to blanket stitch, and with dark green thread, worked around the outside and along the wavy edges of the papers.

I gutted the Rain Forest Bazzill, to made a 2.5cm frame and set this aside for later. Then my photo was mounted onto white card and then Rain Forest. I raised this with foam and arranged it onto the page. 

I created two floral clusters with flowers fussy cut from the scraps of the floral paper. I added Rain Forest Bazzill fronds, cut using Sizzix Tim Holtz, Funky Floral Thinlits die sets. To this I added the two prima flowers from the kit together with a few tiny flowers from my own stash. The curio from the kit was placed on the lower cluster. 

The title is made from a Paige Evans Ephemera word and a die cut word using Blossom Bazzill and Simple Stories Say Cheese 4 Happy Words metal die set.

Finally I added a sprinkling of sequins. 

Welcome - This layout features the three pallets I decorated for my daughter's wedding, Welcoming and giving the day's information to our guests.

I used the 2.5 deep gutted rainforest Bazzill from earlier, as a border for this layout. I trimmed the 'All is Calm' paper to 29cm x 29cm and from the centre I cut a 20cm circle. The pink side was placed over the border and the circle was flipped over and popped back into position to show the floral side.

My photos were trimmed with white and then Rain Forest Bazzill, and arranged onto the page.

I trimmed the diameter of the circle with glittery white zic-rac. Then the title was arranged in place with glittery white foam alpha stickers.

Thats all for today, back soon.
Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Updating My Recipe Journal

Updating My Recipe Journal

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Hi. Lisa here today!

I'm working in my recipe journal.

I have an A5 planner where I store my favourite recipes. These are recipes that our family love and they all have stories attached to them.

I also decided today that I wanted to create some new dashboards. These are the 4 separators between each section.

I'm using the Doodlebug Design collection - Made with Love.

It's so perfect! I do have a process video here if you'd like to watch.

 

I used a page from the planner as my template to cut to size (cutting it slightly larger than the page). I laminated it and added the holes. I also  added a pocket on the front of each using this sheet. It's so cute. I love the illustrations.

I ended up decorating the reverse of each one too

I have brunch, dinner, dessert & snacks sections. But you could have whatever works best for you.

I couldn't resist the cute tags here. I cut them out and popped them inside the pockets.

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I used a tab punch to create the tabs on the top. Using the papers from the collection and stapling them in place.

 

I also created a page about our Fluffy Pancake recipe that we use loads. It was given to me about 12 yrs ago by a scrapbooking friend in the US.  It was so nice to give this loved recipe a proper home and document the story. .

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This paper here is perfect for story telling. I only attached it down in the centre, so I could slide my tag under and it's now held firmly in place. I also decorated my pages with the matching stickers which I love.

I'm so happy with these new additions to my recipe journal and I hope you like them too. Don't forget the video here. I've got an idea with the leftovers using the collection, so I'll be back with another idea soon.

Take care

Lisa x    

Smile - P13 Paper Products - Beyond the Sea

Hello, Rebecca back with you today with another layout created using the gorgeous 'Beyond the Sea' collection by P13 Paper Products. I think I may have found my new favourite collection - I am enjoying working with it so much and I cannot believe how far this collection is stretching. I've made 7 layouts now and still have so much left!

I had the idea in my head that I wanted to cut a ship's steering wheel (Sailing folk - I apologise! I'm sure the wheel has a proper name but for the life of me I can't think of it!) from Paper #03, which is a gorgeous weathered wood effect pattern. I found an image online, and traced it in my silhouette software to give me the outline of the wheel. I then offset the image, and cut it slightly larger from a sheet of Bazzill Cardstock in 'Bark'. I stuck the two together and added foam on the reverse. 

I've used a sheet of white Premium Cardstock for my background, and have trimmed half an inch off each side and have used the leftover sheets of brown bazzill cardstock, and Paper #03 to add a layered border around the edge of my layout to frame the page. I've also distressed the edges to bring some texture to the layout.

Behind my wheel, I have added some very soft mixed media using a stencil brush and a distress ink in Salty Ocean to help create a bit of depth to the page.

In my photo, my husband and son are looking directly at the camera so I decided to have my photo sitting in the centre of my layout. I raised it up on foam, and added some cheesecloth behind it to bring in some more texture. I love using cheesecloth on beachy layouts and feel like it's the perfect texture. 

Moving on to embellishing my layout, I added some florals which I had fussy-cut from Paper #04 and some more of the fussy-cut elements from Paper #07 that were left over from my previous layouts. I've built a cluster either side of my photo, raising some of the elements up with foam pads. Nestled in the centre of these clusters are also two circular stickers from Cardstock Stickers #3.

For my title I have used a wood veneer piece which says 'Smile' and I've painted it with a Shimmerz Paint in 'Anchors Away'. (Shimmerz are new to Papermaze so if you haven't already checked them out, I highly recommend you do!)

I felt that the layout was a bit bottom-heavy so decided to create a small cluster in the top left corner to help balance the page out. I added the same blue ink to my background, and added a fussy-cut leaf cluster with a gorgeous tag from Cardstock Tags #3. 

I then finished my layout by drawing an outline border, in white, on the wheel to help add a bit more detail and make it look slightly more realistic. And that is my layout complete! This page came together VERY quickly for me - it only took 45 minutes to create. It definitely helps that this collection is so beautiful - the pages just seem to fall together effortlessly!

If you'd like to watch the process, there is a video on my YouTube channel, which you can find Here. 

Officially, that's me done for March! I do have some bits left from this collection so I’m sure I’ll manage another couple of layouts at some point!

You’ll notice that a lot of this collection has sold out on the website - it literally flew off the shelf! But fear not - restocks are on their way, along with a few more P13 collections so keep an eye on the website!

Take care,

Rebecca x