Simple Stories - Color Me Happy - Shine!

Hi!

It's Claire on the blog today and I am having a blast this month, creating with the Color Me Happy collection from Simple Stories!

Packed with gorgeous, colours, patterns, ephemera and scallops (my favourite!), it really gives your imagination the opportunity to run wild!

I really wanted the colours to pop so opted for two strips of the 4x6 Elements Paper to act as a base. I love how the black background and coloured polka dots really stand out against a crisp white cardstock background.

Laying them horizontally, to anchor the design, I then began to build layers. I fussy cut a row of the circles from the All About It paper, and cut them in half, giving me a strip of semi-cicrles. I lay these across the middle of the paper strips, along with a small piece of the pale pink paper from the Matchmaker Pack. To build depth, I used foam tape to adhere these to the page.

Next, I fussy cut the 'Add a little Color' pieces from the Journal Elements paper, giving the design some vertical height. On top of this, I used two small chipboard frames from the Chipboard Pieces pack to house my photos.  These look so cool in real life. I'd happily have an entire pack of just these! 

I also pulled out several scalloped pieces, mixing colours and patterns to create scalloped edges throughout the design. By doing this, it also ties in the scalloped edge from the semi-circle patterned paper used earlier. 

I created some extra layers and clusters using the smaller pieces from the Chipboard Pieces and the Cardstock Stickers Basics. 

For my title, I reached for the Foam Stickers - a firm favourite in any Simple Stories collection! 

And one last touch to really help the page pop - some small stars punched from plain black cardstock. 

I hope you've enjoyed this blog. It was certainly a fun one to make! I'd highly recommend this collection - it's such a happy collection to use, and the possibilities are endless! Check it out in the shop here whilst stocks last! 

See you soon! 

Claire xx

@scrappysoulmate 

Wild At Heart - Uniquely Creative - Bohemian Escape Collection

Hi everyone,

It’s Rebecca here, and I’m really excited to be on the blog today sharing my first layout created with the Bohemian Escape collection from Uniquely Creative. Uniquely Creative is a new brand to Papermaze, all the way from Australia! Their collections are absolutely beautiful and elegant, featuring the most gorgeous floral elements—perfect for any occasion.

The Bohemian Escape collection has even inspired a new hobby for me—I’ve started making cards! (Although I’m still a long way from calling myself a card-maker!) Papermaze currently have two Uniquely Creative collections in stock, and you can find them both here.

To begin, I selected five of my favourite patterned papers. With so many gorgeous designs to choose from, that was no easy task! From four of the papers, I cut small tag shapes using a metal die and my Sizzix Big Shot machine. From the fifth patterned paper, I cut a polaroid-style frame.

I arranged the tags vertically down the centre of a sheet of Premium White Cardstock, alternating their directions to add visual interest.

To the right-hand side, I positioned the polaroid frame, which houses my photo. I raised it on foam pads to introduce some dimension. Behind the photo, I layered several florals from the Creative Cuts Ephemera cuts along with a couple of the Vellum Sticker Creative Cuts.

At this point, I paused and returned to the layout the following day. With fresh eyes, I decided I wanted to reposition the vellum stickers to make them more visible. I held my breath as I carefully peeled them off—but to my surprise, they lifted perfectly and I was able to reposition them with ease! What a fantastic product.

However, I still felt that the layout looked a little heavy on the right-hand side, so I created a smaller cluster on the left to help balance the page and make the design feel more cohesive. I used the same floral die cuts and vellum stickers, and added my title using one of the banners from the collection.

To extend the clusters slightly, I cut some small leafy sprigs from the Foiled Acetate Sheet and tucked them in behind the elements. I love how these add a subtle touch of sparkle.

Through the holes in the tags, I tied various Uniquely Creative threads to bring in a little more gold.

To finish, I added a couple of die-cut butterflies and a few dots of gold Crystal Nuvo Drops.

Thanks so much for reading. I hope you’re just as excited as I am to see this beautiful new brand in the store!

Be sure to pop back at the end of the month to see the second layout I’ve created with this stunning collection.

Take care,
Rebecca xx 

@preciouspagespapercraft 

Echo Park ~ You Are My Sunshine #1 ☀️

Hello everyone, it's Anna back with you today. This month I'm working with Echo Park You Are My Sunshine - a fabulous collection to brighten your day, with bright colours, florals and plenty of sunshine! 

You can find the collection in the shop here. 

To create this layout I used a sheet of white cardstock as my base. I wanted to use the b side of sunshine floral, as the green pattern matched well with my photographs. 

So I trimmed it down by around an inch on each side and adhered to the white cardstock. 

I then chose a coordinating colour thread and hand stitched around the sunshine floral patterned paper. 

I then grabbed the 3x4 journal cards and chose four of them that would work well with my photos. I had 5 pictures that I wanted to get on this page and arranging them with the journal cards is one of my go to ways to fit multiple pictures on a page. 

I arranged the photos and journal cards together and adhered them to my layout. 

I then added my embellishments, I selected a few element stickers. I tucked the large florals under the right edge of the photo and added a sunshine sticker at the top, alongside my title.  

I fussy cut a couple of florals from Sunshine Floral and tucked them under my journal cards next to some small florals from the element stickers. 

Thanks so much for looking! See you later in the month with a second layout using this collection! 

Anna 

@acraftylifewithanna

Carta Bella - Wine - A Glass of History

Hello Karen here with a new layout to share using Carta Bella’s "Wine" collection. This collection has a classy, old-fashioned vineyard look with colours like dark red, leafy green, and warm gold. It’s perfect for your photos of wine tastings, vineyard trips, or fancy dinners.

For my layout I started following one of the free project guides from the Echo Park/Carta Bella website, but my layout ended up going in a different direction.

I started this layout with a sheet of the Sip, Read Repeat paper. I trimmed this down slightly and then matted it onto a sheet of cream cardstock leaving a narrow border around the edges.

In the middle of the layout I added  a 7" square of the Wine Cellar Collection paper which I had matted with a piece of light green cardstock.

I cut a 4"x7.5" tag from the Vineyard Blooms paper and with 3D foam underneath I stuck it to the right side of the square so it hangs slightly over the edge.

On top of the tag I placed two small photos matted with some burgundy cardstock. A die cut from the Ephemera Pack was also added.

Three .5" x 9" strips of patterned paper were placed on the left side of the square and I staggered the ends to give the layout a bit more interest.

A tag from the Ephemera Pack was added to the layout and tied with some white string.

From some cream cardstock I die cut lettering to make the title and stuck  it above the square.

Near the bottom of the layout, also printed onto cream cardstock, journalling was placed.

At the top right edge of the layout I created a cluster of die cuts and wine bottles fussy cut from some of the patterned paper.

I used more fussy cut wine bottles and extra die-cut shapes to decorate the page, then finished it off with a few scattered sequins.

I hope you like this layout and that I've given you some inspiration for your own scrapbooking. 

Until next time, take care.

Karen x x

February Papermaze Kit - Part 2

Lynn here today, with two more layouts made with the February Papermaze Kit. With this beautiful collection I made two heritage layouts a few weeks ago. Here I have more, showing two generations of the same family. The first shows sisters Irene and Dorothy, and the second shows three sisters (the mother and aunts of the girls in the first layout). I came across these lovely photos of our family ancestors through Ancestry. I will add details of these ladies on my own blog (should you wish to read about them). 

Before looking at how the layouts were created, here is what you will find in the kit:

Patterned Papers:
Simple Stories - Simple Vintage Junk Drawer collection - Notes And Things
49 and Market - Dennis Burton - Nostalgic Memories collection - Moment & Forever
49 and Market - Vicki Boutin - Curiosities in Willow Grove collection - Starters Paper #5
Graphic 45 - Journalling Through Time collection - Wild Flowers & Golden Rod Pattern & Solid Sheet

The photo below shows both sides of the papers. 

Embellishments - 49 and Market Nostalgic Memories chipboard words, 49 and Market Colourswatch Tickets, 12" lace ribbon, Bare Essentials wooden domes, assorted flowers, Mintay paper stickers phrases - beige: & Simple Stories Simple Vintage Woodlands floral bits.

Bazzill Basics Cardstock - Touch of Pink, Mocha Divine, (included with kit) Apricot, Ivy, Fawn & Beeswax (extra pack).

Irene and Dorothy - The youngest Kiff siblings - circa 1925

For this 1920's photo, I used the gutted frame of Notes And Things paper, created from making a previous layout. I cut the Forever paper to 10.5" x 10.5", and distressed the edges, before setting over the print frame. I folded over the top left corner of the Forever paper.

Using my Cricut I cut an 8.5" diameter clockface (with roman numerals), from some scrap cardstock. I treated this with copper embossing powder, for the hands I used thick black embossing powder. I cut a circle the same side from Kraft Bazzill, to back the clockface, then attached the hands with a large brad (also embossed black). I placed the clock face to the top right of the layout. 

The photo was attached to the bottom right of the layout, overlapping the clockface.  

With the Cricut I used an Art Deco font, in three layers, using three sheets of Bazzill from the kit (Mocha Divine, Apricot & Beeswax). I built the letters, then with 3D foam pads I arranged them around the clockface. 

I selected flowers and leaves from my stash to arrange in clusters on the page. 

I added the dated with some old typewriter key alphabet stickers from my stash.

Eaton Sisters - The lady in the centre is the mother of the two girls in the layout above. She has the same given names as one of the daughters. 

The background for this layout is the sheet of Starters Paper #5. I used some scraps of Notes And Things paper, to frame the photo. The photo was place centrally onto the paper.

With the Wild Flowers paper, I fussy cut all the flowers. Then I arranged them around the photo. Some flowers were glued to the page directly, and other flowers were raised with 3D foam pads. 

With the Sizzix Thinlits Tag Collection die set, I cut three small tags from Golden Rod Pattern & Solid Sheet. I inked the edges and wrote the name of each sister onto the individual tags. I tied a short piece of brown seam binding ribbon to the top of the tags. These were place among the flowers. 

With one of the 49 and Market Nostalgic Memories chipboard words from the kit, I added a phrase to the bottom right of the layout. I placed a couple of gold enamel dots over the holes at each end of this piece.

I placed the approximated date of the photo in the bottom left corner with some old wood effect Thicker alphabet stickers from my stash. Some old Basic Grey Alphabet stickers were used for the title, I layered two colours together. 

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

Using Up Your Scraps

 Hi!!   It's Lisa here.

I'm here today to encourage you to create and make the most out of your lovely stash.

I have some great tips for you today.

I do have a video here if you'd like to see the layout come together.  

This is one of my favourite ways to create.

I love going through my stash and piecing together a little mood board.

It's like making a jigsaw with your scraps and bits and pieces.

Laying everything out like this you can really see what works together.

I love doing this so much. 

And I end up with something like this.

It works really well if you are working with a colour combination and also a good way to see that you have all the elements, title, wording, papers, somewhere to add journaling etc...

Then you use it all to create the page.

  

This yellow heart paper here really caught my eye. Isn't it stunning?! 

And I had lots of Rosie's Studio pieces like this here that I added.

I love the pinks and blues.

These are stickers from Echo Park here.

 

I also used some bits and pieces from Pretty Little Studio here

I also really enjoy the 'Cut Aparts' from Pretty Little Studio here.

You cut them up so they work out better on the budget compared to stickers.

And I quite often I will use the wording from the branding as it goes so well. 

That's what I've done with this one here.

You can also get really creative. I took this paper from Simple Stories here.

Don't let the Christmas theme put you off, you can cut around and create your own pieces.

Like I have done here I love this little addition.
I cut the word strips out from the card too.

It's such a fun way to create, piecing so many different things from different collections together.

I hope this has inspired you today.

I encourage you to play and bring lots of bits and pieces together on your pages too.

Have fun!

Lisa xx