Echo Park Endless Summer - The Year of The Pineapple Cake

Hello, Karen here again with a final layout using the Endless Summer collection from Echo Park. The layouts I've previously created using this collection were both summer themed but today's layout isn't, and hopefully shows that themed collections can easily be used for layouts totally unrelated to the theme of the collection. My layout today is about a birthday cake that was made in the winter and the inspiration for the layout was the B side of the sheet of multi journalling cards which features a pineapple design.

Onto the yellow pineapple paper I layered rectangles cut from the Beach Days and Sun Rays papers that I had left over from my previous layouts. I matted the papers with black cardstock before attaching them to the layout as I really wanted the colours to pop. I played around with the positioning of the rectangles for quite a while until I was happy with them.

I also created a tag from more of the Beach Days paper and black cardstock and on the tag I mounted a smaller photo and some journalling. I added a black reinforcing ring to the hole in the tag and tied the tag with black & white bakers twine.

My 5x7 photo was double matted with black and white cardstock and then placed on the layout. I left the right side of the photo unstuck so that I could tuck my tag behind the photo. The photo is hidden but the journalling is visible. White paper doilies were also tucked underneath the photo to soften some of the hard edges. I always think paper doilies are a prefect addition to food themed layouts!

I printed more journalling onto a journalling card from my stash and tucked this underneath the bottom left corner of the photo.

I chose a chipboard word from the sheet of chipboard accents and added this as an embelishment.

Some very old puffy stickers from my stash and some newer foam Thickers from American Crafts were used to create the title which was placed at the bottom of the layout nestled into the paper rectangles. 

Finally a scattering of black sequins were added.

I do hope you like the Endless Summer collection as much as I do. It is such a bright and happy collection and perfect for so many layouts and is available in the shop here .

I'll be back soon with another project but until then, take care.

Karen x x

June Papermaze Kit - Part 2

Lynn here today with my second pair of Design Team layouts using the Papermaze June Kit.  The kit is available in the store or online, and is a lovely collection of pretty summery coloured papers and embellishments. Both my layouts feature photos taken on a day out to Kew Gardens last month.

Here is a reminder of what you will find in the kit, before moving on to how the layouts were created. Please see full details of the kit HERE.

When Flowers Dream - This amazing exhibition was on display at Kew Gardens when we visited, and the colours were perfect for the papers in this kit.

I separated the bands of colour from the Happy Days paper and distressed the edges.  Then I placed them down the left side of the sheet of white Bazzill. I lightly marked the gap where each strip of colour finished, then set aside the papers for later. With a selection of Distress Oxide Inks (picked to match the colours in the paper), I flicked wet ink over the white Bazzill, in bands to correspond with the paper colours.

The bands of coloured paper were replaced in the right order and I arranged the photos to the right side of the layout, tucking them under the papers. Once happy with the placement I stuck them all in place. 

For the title I used some old Pinkfresh Studio mini puffy alpha stickers for the first line. Then with Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits - Alphanumeric Bold die set I cut the next three words. I cut them once in scraps from the Happy Days paper and then again from some thin white card. I layered the letters up before sticking them to the layout.

From the kit I selected the strip multicoloured puffy dots, and selected a colour to match each of the paper colours and stuck these to the left side of each strip.

I used the circular sticker from the Heidi Swapp phrase thickers and the Rosie's Studio puffy stickers, arranging them down the right side of the strips of paper.

My journalling about the sculpture was written on the bottom three bands of coloured paper.
The photos were decorated with pink pop pom trim.

Finally I added Nuvo Crystal Drops, gems, sequins and pearls in matching colours.

Afternoon Tea - My daughter treated me to a day at Kew Gardens for my birthday, which included a lovely afternoon tea. 

For this layout I selected the 'Full Bloom' paper to make a deep border. I created this by gutting the sheet to make a frame of 2.5cm. I trimmed a sheet of white Bazzill to 26.5cm x 26.5cm, and distressed the edges.

I wanted to make four colour blocked areas so sorted some embellishments and paper scraps from the kit and my own stash, sorting them into the colours I wanted to use picked from the floral frame. I decided on yellow, turquoise, pink and peach. Then I matched these colour groups to four Distress Paints. The paper was divided into quarters before flicking a little paint into its corresponding area.

Once the paint was dry, I hand stitched around the edges of this cardstock using some rainbow embroidery thread. I arranged my embellishments, papers and card onto the layout. I used the following from the kit: elements from the Sun Chaser Colourful Phrase Thickers, Doodlebug camera shape sprinkles, Pinkfresh Studio chipboard frames and multicoloured puffy dots.

From my stash I added pearls, decorative pins and Pinkfresh Studio - My Favourite Story enamel dots

I created paper layering using both sides of papers from the kit - (Full Bloom,  Perfect Day Plaid and Happy Days). And made tags made from the Bazzill in the kit and some from my own stash. I added some jute twine to a hole punched into the top of each tag. I also used the same twine to wrap around tags and papers. 

I cut flowers and butterflies from Beautiful Moments paper scraps, and placed them onto the arrangements with some 3D foam pads.

My four little titles were cut from more scraps of the Happy Days paper, selecting colours to match my arrangements. I used the Tim Holtz Sizzix Thinlits Alphanumeric - Label die set.

That's all from the June Kit, I'll be back with the July kit soon.
Thanks for looking.
Lynn x

Let's Talk About Hidden Journaling

 Hi,

It's Lisa here today chatting the why's and how's of hidden journaling.

I've created this page here in my journal using the Heidi Swapp collection - Sun Chaser here.

It's the first page of our June Disneyworld trip.

As much as I love telling stories, I don't always want them on full display for a variety of reasons, that's when hiddenly journaling comes in really handy.  

For this particular page I wanted my photo to be the main focus.

So I covered it with patterned paper from this collection so I could journal my story on the back and attached it with some clear tape on the left side creating a little hinge so the photo could open out and then the story can be read.

There's also a glassine bag on the right side. This would be perfect to add hidden journaling inside too, however I've popped an Animal Kingdom park map inside as we were there on this day.

I've added some bit from the papers to pretty it up a bit.

    On the opposite page I wanted to create a little pocket.

I've used an envelope and covered up with the coordinating papers. The top edge I've left torn as I love this look.

I've managed to create 2 pockets from the one envelope.

The top part which is the actual envelope has the receipts from our food that day and the second pocket I made using a smaller piece of vellum. Attaching it on 3 sides and leaving the top tape free.   

This way you can slide bits in to this second pocket.

I love the tags on one of the papers so I cut these for some more hidden journaling.

I stuck the tags to another of the papers which I knew would be perfect for extra journaling.

These little tags worked so well.

I shared a video process of this page being created here and I talk lots more about hidden journaling and the benefits. 

It's great if the journaling is personal or if you struggle to journal.

I love adding hidden journaling. I think it makes a page so much fun having to open flips, take our of pockets and bags. I love an interactive page.

I hope this inspires you today.

Thanks so much.

Lisa xx   

Lovely Day - 49 and Market - ARToptions Viken Collection

Hello, it's Rebecca with you today sharing another layout using the beautiful Viken collection from 49 and Market. It took a little while for the last few bits of this collection to arrive in store, but they are finally here and uploaded. You can now find the full collection on the website, here.

I love how pretty the colours in this collection look on a white background, so I have opted to work on a sheet of Premium White Cardstock today. I started with a sheet of the Majestic patterned paper. I love the darker tones in this paper compared with others in the collection and thought it worked well with my photo. Yet again, I am scrapping a photo of my little man in the woods among the bluebells as the colours in the photos work so beautifully with this collection.

I cut a section of the paper 8 inches across, and then I tore a diagonal line across the bottom and distressed all the edges to introduce a bit of texture to the page. I placed the sheet of distressed paper in the centre of my background, and stitched it in place using my sewing machine. I've used a combination of straight stitch and zig zag stitch for interest. 

I matted my photo using a scrap of white cardstock to give it a nice crisp border, and then added a layer of green Bazzill cardstock. Once I'd distressed the edges, I then mounted the photo onto the B side of the Endearing patterned paper for contrast. I stuck my photo in place, with some craft foam behind it, in the top right corner of my page.

I took a floral wreath die cut from the Laser Cut Elements pack, cut it in half and arranged it behind my photo so that it peeked around the edges. This provided a base for my embellishments.

On top op the floral die cut, I added some tags from the Tag Set. I love that these tags come with white cord already threaded through them - it brings texture to the page and saves me a job!! I added a few more die cuts from the Laser Cut Elements pack either side of my photo, building up the clusters. Wanting to bring a little sparkle to the page, I tucked in a couple of twiddles of silver metallic thread. I used the WRMK Stitch Happy thread - it's my 'go to' thread as I love the way it maintains it shape when I wrap it around my fingers. 

I've used the word 'lovely' from the Laser Cut Elements pack for my title, and extended it by placing some small puffy alpha stickers (from my stash) on top of one of the chipboard frames from the Chipboard Set.

I popped on a couple of chipboard flair, and finished off with a dragon fly and butterfly from the Laser Cut Elements. 

I hope you've enjoyed this layout and it's given you some inspiration. If you'd like to watch the page come together, there is a process video up on my YouTube channel, which you can find here.

Take care,

Rebecca x

@preciouspagespapercraft

Bella Blvd ~ Time to Travel ✈️ #1

Hi, it’s Anna back on the blog today! I’m back to share my third and final project with Bella Blvd Time to Travel and it’s a project life page…

I haven’t posted a project life page in a while, but I do use them a lot! I find them so helpful when making albums. They are a great way to add in extra photos that you may not have used or would have otherwise taken up lots of pages in your album. 

For this one, I’ve continued with documenting the travel day of our recent holiday. So I’ve used pictures of us and food etc on the plane that I probably wouldn’t have done a whole page on. It has also provided a whole pocket for journaling. 

You can find a variety of sizes of pocket pages in the shop here.

Lots of collections come with cut apart papers that are perfect to use in these pocket pages. Time to Travel is no different, so I cut apart a few pieces from the daily details paper.

I usually pair cut apart papers with project life cards, which come in a variety of designs and perfectly fit the pockets. 

You can find project life cards in the shop here. 

Once I’ve decided on the style of pocket page I’m using. I always start by laying out the photos I want to use and finding an appropriate card to mount them on. You can of course also use full 6x4, 3x2 etc photos without the need for any cards. I also like to leave a couple of spaces for cards on their own/ titles/ journaling boxes. 

Once I’m happy with the layout, I decide on any embellishments that can be added. 

I have used some of the puffy stickers from the collection to add in some extra detail.  I added in one of the little aeroplanes from the puffy stickers to the map to show our journey. In the bottom left pocket I added in a journaling box with the ‘travel’ alphas from the puffy stickers too. I will record details from our journey here. 

Thanks so much for looking!

 I hope this inspires you to have a go at a project life page.

See you next month, when I’ll be working with Simple Stories Into the Wild!

Anna 

X 

 

Simple Stories - Summer Lovin' - Hello Summer

Hi everyone!

I hope you've been enjoying the amazing weather we've been having! It has been the perfect inspiration for scrapping with the beautiful Simple Stories Summer Lovin' collection which is available in the shop now.

I really love the b side of the Bright and Sunny paper with its bold colourful stripes. I cut each stripe, distressed the edges and added machine stitching to some of the wider stripes. I laid them back in order to a piece of plain white Premium cardstock, raising them on foam pads for extra dimension.

Once I knew where to position my photos I added a big section of sun rays, made with a sunburst stencil and Distress Oxide Spray Stains in Squeezed Lemonade and Fossilized Amber.

I backed my photos with the Summer Vibes and Sweet Summertime papers, again raising on foam and overlapping one picture on top of the other. For extra interest, I slotted a few tags behind the pictures, cut from the Tags paper, letting the bright colours and patterns from the top of the tags shine through.

Next, the embellishing! I had so much fun! I used some Puffy Stickers including this gorgeous seagull :)

I also fussy cut some flowers from the Simply Paradise paper and added a few more florals from the Puffy Sticker Sheet and the Foam Titles pack.

For my title, I used a big bold blue statement piece from the Foam Stickers pack. These Foam Stickers are my favourite part of the collection. Such high quality, loads of title options and its packed with extra florals and bees too! Great value for money!

I really love the happy summer vibes this collection offers - It is so versatile and perfect to document your summer adventures.

I hope you've found the layout inspiring and I'll see you here again next month!

Take care,

Claire

@scrappysoulmate

Echo Park Endless Summer - Summer layout

Hello. Karen here again. Today I have another layout to share with you using the Endless Summer collection from Echo Park and a digital cut file from Paige Evans. I was really pleased how this layout turned out. I think the colours in the papers and embelishments from the collection were perfect for my beach photos and the watery theme. 

I started the layout with a digital cut file called 'Waves Circle' by Paige Evans which I cut from some of my favourite smooth white cardstock from Craft UK. I sized the cut file to about 10" in diameter as I wanted it to fill most of my layout and then backed it with papers from the collection and some cardstock. I used the Ocean Friends and Sun Rays papers and Whirlpool Bazzill cardstock. 

Once the cut file had been backed I added some blue sequins using a wet glue. I thought the sparkly sequins looked a bit like fish scales and added to the theme of my layout.

I then mounted the completed cut file onto the centre of a sheet of the 3 x 4 journalling cards (B side), which I had already trimmed slightly and matted onto a sheet of white cardstock. 3D foam was placed underneath the cut file to raise it up and add some dimension.

Three 3x4 photos were double matted on white and blue cardstock and added to the layout on top of the cut file.

The layout was embellished with clusters of chipboard pieces from the Chipboard Phrases and Chipboard Accents packs. 

I used some sandpaper to distress the edges of the chipboard pieces to give them a worn look, and more 3D foam was added to the backs of the pieces to raise them up to different levels.

I also used some of the stickers from the Elements Stickers sheet. 

Finally I added the date to the bottom right corner of the layout using some white Pink Paislee Foam Thickers from my stash.

Thank you for dropping by today. I'll be back again soon with another layout using Endless Summer but until then, Take Care.

Karen x x