The NearlyWeds Day

 Hello, It's Anita with you today....gosh its been a long time since I was last here. I needed to take a little break...which turned out to be a LOT longer than I intended. 

So here is my first layout made in almost a year! I have been creating with the gorgeous Prima's *Hello Pink Autumn* This layout however is actually nothing to do with Autumn at all! I have scrapped a couple of photos to document a day that could potentially have been sad, but we made it a happy one instead!

Our daughter was due to get married on May 31st 2020, after 2 years of planning, creating all the bouquets, decor etc...and then along came Covid and changed plans! Couldn't let the original date pass without some sort of recognition ....so we held a very small celebration for us all and gave them a Nearly Weds Day!

 

The layout was backed with a sheet of  Sweetheart cardstock, I gutted the middle out and used some of the gutted piece to mat the photo onto before adding a 2nd mat using some music paper and I tore the outer edge on it.  

A rummage through my shelves of inks, paints and sparkly bits provided a pot of copper gilding cream, so rubbed some gently round the outer edge of the cardstock and also the edges of the photo mat.

All of the patterned sheets in the range have some gorgeous rose gold/copper foiled details on them, they catch the light beautifully and really do add a lot to the layouts.

I chose a sheet called Grateful Hearts for this layout and cut a random rippled edge all the round the outside edge, I then carefully cut round the floral section above the word banner and tucked the photo just in behind it

The sheet of Fall Hugs has 4 square panels on one side, I picked the one I liked the most and fussy cut the wreath to create a frame for the 2nd photo to sit in. I love how soft the wreath frame was and that it was a completely different shape than the other photo.

Next it was onto sorting out some embellishments.... this gave me chance to have a really good root about and rummage in lots of boxes and baskets that I haven't touched for such a long time!

I found a mix of various brads in different sizes and colours, plus some flat backed gems and some photo anchors......and they ended up everywhere!! I do love to add embellies to my pages and projects and half the fun is in the rummaging for them.....it always reminds me of rooting through my Nanna's button tins when I was a little girl!

There is a fabulous range of all the embellishments you could ever need on the shop page go and have a good look and treat yourself.

I couldn't do a layout without adding blossoms and especially with this theme, so I picked a variety to add and also punched out some little fern fronds to add around the blossom clusters.

To finish the page I used a Sizzlet Aphabet in the font Dreamboat, cut from a sheet of Cream Puff to create the title and used the same leftover card to print out my journalling , which I then cut into strips and added to complete my layout.

Well that's it from me, thanks for taking the time to look at my post. 

If you pop over to the SHOP you will find this gorgeous Prima Collection and hundreds and hundreds of other gorgeous things that you NEED in your craft collection....and there is also a fantastic AUTUMN SALE filled with bargains that are too good to miss

Happy Crafting

Anita xx

Prima Pumpkin & Spice

Hello There

 It's Anita with you today and I have another Autumnal inspired layout to share with you.

I am lucky enough to be playing with the stunning Pumpkins and Spice Collection by Prima

The papers are beautiful, adorned with flowers, leaves and pumpkins along with some vintage patterns and have some very pretty, gentle copper foiled designs on them.

We used to go to our local PYO farm every year at various times throughout the year when our girls were younger, my favourite visit was always the one with the pumpkins though, especially if we were lucky enough to have a nice warm sunny day too!

This particular visit we met up with my sister and some of her children....we had a really lovely afternoon.

 Here is a list of all the products used to create this page:-

Fall Flowers

Get Cosy 

Fall For All 

Sweater Weather 

Crunchy Leaves 

Cozy Evening Flowers

Floral Ephemera

I spliced together a piece of Fall Flowers and Crunchy Leaves to create the background and then splattered and dribbled various metallic paints and shimmer mists across the layout...I love a bit of shimmer and sparkle me..... and I normally manage to incorporate into most of my layouts.

I tore a piece of corrugated card to create the photo mat and gently rubbed some Metallic Wax Patina in copper and some gold paint along the edges to highlight them. I also dry brushed with the gold paint all around the edges of the layout

The pumpkins, signs and leaves were fussy cut  from the sheets of  Get Cosy, Fall for All and Sweater Weather before rubbing the edges round with gold and copper paints. Along with these I added some elements from the Floral Ephemera pack

I popped some up on foam pads to add depth and placed them round the page, layering up and creating little clusters of interest. Some paper twine was added to the Give Thanks sign before adding it to the page. I also popped on a couple of Chipboard Flair pieces from the Pink Fresh Studio Days of Splendor range along with some paper tea roses from the Cosy Evening Flowers, these had also been dabbed with gold and copper paint.

 

I finished embellishing the layout by adding a couple of heart cabochons and making raised dots using Stickles and Distress Stickles 

 

Please do pop over to the SHOP and have a look around. There are new products being added all the time.

That's it from me for October, but I will be back in November with other projects using this beautiful Prima range xx

Happy Crafting!

Warmest Wishes 

Anita xx

Furlough Fun......Stamperia Face art

Hello again!

It's Anita here to finish off the month and see May out! This year is passing ridiculously fast already isn't it!
My layout today is about our eldest daughter and the fact that whilst being furloughed from work she wanted something to do and became a Consultant for Body Shop at Home. Initially it was just for something to keep her occupied and help fill her time. I don't think she expected to love it so much, fall in love with the products and enjoy promoting them and selling to others. She has made a whole network of new friends at the same time and is having an absolute ball. She has also introduced our younger daughter to it and she has also become a Consultant too ( I can see another layout in the pipeline!)

I based the layout on a sheet of Stamperia called Face Art and I used the reverse side as I liked the repetitive lacy pattern. Before anything else, I gently sponged around the edge of the photographs with some ivory paint to soften the edges.

I like the texture of corrugated card and thought it would work well on this page, so I tore a strip to lay across the page and dabbed some ivory paint in patches and also some random dribbles of Cosmic Shimmer mists that I dragged across it.

From a sheet of Dream Writings I cut a few panels and words to scatter about the page, some
                             tucked in and others were raised on foam pads to add dimension.

I printed out some journaling strips on the printer and swiped the edges with some Antique copper mist to highlight.

Below shows the mix of Cosmic Shimmer Mists, Stickles and Liquid Pearls I used across the layout.

Aswell as dropping blobs of Shimmer mists in various places, I also used it to drag along the edges of the photos, around some of the sayings panels and also on the 2 Prima Capri Amalfi flowers. When it dried the mica glistened beautifully and really highlighted the edges.

I used the Liquid Pearls and Stickles to create circles of dots, using various lids and glasses as stencils to dot round. I like how the Liquid Pearls stay like raised little domes and once again add a little dimension, whereas the Stickles dries flatter.

I finished by adding lots of bi-colour pearls in various sizes in clusters about the page. Amazingly these arrived through the post on the very morning I was making this layout...and the colour match was perfect!

So there it is, my last page for May. I wonder what June will bring for us all. Hopefully some safer days and we will see a bit more of a return to some sort of normality. Thank goodness as crafters we all have plenty to keep us occupied and gives us a means of escape from everything else eh!

If you feel the need to treat yourself to some new goodies there are always lots and lots of lovely new products arriving in the SHOP, along with a vast selection of great products and monthly kits that are always popular......I believe the popular saying at the moment is Be Kind..... that's a great policy to have.... so why not start by being kind to yourself, you deserve a treat!!

Happy Crafting!

Warmest wishes
Anita xx

April Papermaze Kit - Part 2

Hi, Lynn here today with the second set of layouts using the very pretty April Papermaze Kit.

As with the first pair, I have a heritage and a wedding layout to share with you.

A quick reminder of what you will find in the kit see the photo below. For full details, see my previous post.

April Papermaze Kit

Rebecca Mary Wilmott 1797 - 1869 - A layout for another heritage photo from my father's family. I have printed the details of Rebecca's life out and stuck them to the back of the layout for reference.

For this page I used both sides of 'Clock' paper from Stamperia. I started by carefully cutting around the clock with the roses from the centre of the paper with a craft knife. Then I flipped the paper over and trimmed back the planks to create a frame for the layout. I inked the edges with Gathered Twigs Distress Inks.
 

I distressed some cotton lace with the same ink and used small pieces to stick to the frame paper, so it peeps from behind. I attached both frame and clock to the Walnut Bazzill with some 3D foam tape to created some dimension.

The Tando Chipboard clock was embossed with the Ranger Distress Embossing Dabber

and Stampendous Frantage Embossing Enamel - Aged Teal, this was placed towards the nutop left of the clock on the paper. I trimmed the photo and mounted onto some of the Lagoon Bazzill. I applied it to the layout overlapping the Tando clock using more foam tape.

My title was cut from Lagoon Bazzill with a Sizzlits Boxed Brush alphabet die set. The letters were arranged around the clock face then I added a coat of Glossy Accents.

I added some cherry blossom flowers, arranging them in clusters in the gaps around the clock. 

With a Martha Stewart leaf punch and the green side of 'Dozen Roses' paper I added leaf fronds to the flowers, and added a touch of sparkle with some  Diamond Stickles.

Our Wedding Guests - Another layout for my daughter's wedding, this one showing the wooden mannequins I decorated for each of the guests as place settings and table numbers. If you would like to know more about this project, please see this post here.  

I started with the 'Cubbies' paper, using it as a display case for all my little wooden figures. I printed a selection of photos in different sizes, and trimmed them to fit from one to six of the boxes.

I used the Maya Road envelope to display a few more photos. Then with a black pen I added some numbers to the label holders printed on the paper.

The cork butterflies were glued to the page and I added some tiny dots of white gloss Nuvo Crystal Drops.

The title was cut from Quartz Bazzill using the Alphanumeric Cutout Script Thinlits dies.

I made some leaf fronds using the 'Dozen Roses' paper and a Martha Stewart punch, I used them to decorate the resin rose on the front of the envelope.

I will be back soon with the May Kit, thanks for looking.
Lynn x

The Pumpkin Patch ...... Ciao Bella 'The Sound of Autumn

Hi There

It's Anita with you today and I have been lucky enough to work with some glorious papers from Ciao Bella and their stunning 'The Sound of Autumn' collection.
Autumn is my absolute favourite time of year! I love the crispness in the air, changing of the leaves , the earthy scent and the gorgeous rich colours everywhere All the best of this is depicted in this paper collection and more besides..

I had this large photo of my youngest daughter taken back in 2014 at our local Pumpkin Patch and I am so glad I hadn't scrapped it before now. These papers are perfect for it and literally do all the work for you.

 I based the layout on a sheet of 'The Sound of Autumn' and I gutted the calendar sheets from the centre of the page to use as an embellishment on the photo. I used gilding flakes all around the edge of the photo to create a soft metallic mat and i fussy cut around the cartwheel and popped the photo in slightly behind it.

I added some cotton lace trim under the bottom of the photo and then layered the calendar pages and some fabric leaves together and held them in place with some antique copper brads and a pumpkin clip

 I added a few wooden buttons, cork washer, paper flowers and some garden twine.

and I cut out the copper book plate, added brads and raised it on foam pads to add dimension and make it look a little more real.

 The book plate and toadstools were cut from a sheet of Autumn Cards
I cut a long slice along near the base of the layout, popped a long scrap of paper behind it and gently rolled back the edges to create a long torn section and then I used garden twine to over sew along the section just to finish the page off.

I really think this has become one of my favourite collections for a long time and its been a real pleasure to create with.
You can see all the latest Ciao Bella papers here

Don't forget there are lots of lovely new goodies in the shop and you can see them all here
and still lots of crafty bargains in the Summer Sale too!

Happy Scrapping!

Anita xx

Little Birdhouse .... Prima Midight Garden pt3

Hello Again

It's Anita here and today I have a post to share using my few left over scraps of Prima's gorgeous Midnight Garden Collection. You can see my previous posts using it HERE and HERE.

I wasn't actually sure what I was going to do for this post, so I hunted around the house looking for inspiration. I found the wooden birdhouse blank in my craft room that I have had for a few years and had not got round to decorating, so I grabbed that and then also found the glass candle stick sitting in a cupboard with some vases ( I never did like that candle stick!!)

 I painted the candlestick with white acrylic paint, giving it 2 coats, allowing it to dry fully inbetween coats.
Then, using a pure bristle shaving brush I very gently swiped the candlestick using some copper paint to create soft highlights and enhance the shaping of the glass.

The copper captures the light beautifully, but also softens the starkness of the white and gives it a slightly more vintage or shabby look.

Using the scraps I had left of  Old Map and Midnight Garden sheets, I covered the roof and the house completely and then gently soft brushed copper paint around all of the edges.
The inside of the house was stuffed with natural coloured sisal fibre and I used some vanilla coloured cotton lace trim and some pearly trim to decorate the edges of the birdhouse around the base rim.

 

I added some tulle trim near the top of the candlestick and then finished off the whole thing by adding a mix of Prima and Petaloo blossoms and leaves, some of which I had softly swiped with copper paint. 

 

I am actually really happy with how this came out in the end and hope that maybe it might inspire you a little to use up your scraps and alter something maybe that you didn't like and give it a new lease of life!!

Thank you for looking and don't forget there lots and lots of gorgeous products over in the SHOP, with needful New Products  .

Happy Crafting
Anita xx

Sitting Pretty ...... Georgia Blues from Prima.

Hi there!

It's Anita with you today and I would like to introduce the stunning GEORGIA BLUES  Collection from Prima. What an absolute delight these papers are with the gorgeous blue tones, floral displays and elegant silver foiling details on each sheet. The patterns are magnificent and varied and they really are rather luxurious.
( Please excuse the poor quality of the photos, the weather has been wet and  lousy here today and I haven't been able to take them outside like I normally do)

I have been wanting to scrap this photo, taken of our youngest daughter for some time. When we were on a day out on holiday in August 2015 we found a row of lovely beach huts at Hunstanton and we had a little photo shoot.... I think these papers were perfect for the job.

I based the layout on a sheet of Dark Grey cardstock and took a sheet of MORNING GLORY that I then gutted out a large oval shape from the centre of the sheet. I cut small snips all the way round the oval and then using a thin paint brush handle, I rolled the edges backwards..... this created a rolled frame and also exposed the pattern from the rear of the sheet.

I also used a sheet of HAPPY DAYS, from this I cut out the bicycle and the floral arrangement from the top left of the sheet. The large remaining piece was placed behind the oval aperture for the photo to sit on.

I added the bicycle and the floral section around the rolled frame and then cut a slice and rolled back on the top of the right hand side of the layout. Behind the slice I slipped in a small panel cut from a sheet of Memory Lane and then did some criss cross lacing using some sparkly blue thread.

I took the Decorative Chipboard and cut it in half ( to use at the top and bottom of the page) I gently added some Pewter cream rub on to make it suit the page a little better.

The title was made using some lovely puffy alphabet stickers from PinkFresh Studio and their Simple and Sweet Range and I then just added a few blossoms, berries and leaves and also a few blue crystal gems to finish.

This really is such a beautiful, useable collection and I am very much looking forward to doing more with the remainder of my DT kit.

Why not pop over to the SHOP and see what other gorgeous goodies are on offer.

Happy Crafting!!

 Warmest wishes
Anita xx

Dress up your storage......with Stamperia

Hello again, 

Anita here with you today to start off this week.

          My scrapping mojo appears to be on holiday at the moment 

and I was wracking my brains as to what I could create for this post.

 I have some absolutely beautiful papers in my DT kit, from a fairly new company to Papermaze, called Stamperia and I really loved the look of a sheet called Peony and Laces.......it was this sheet that inspired this project.

I bought this wooden trough a couple of weeks ago from a Pound Shop and it has sat empty on my kitchen table ever since. When I looked at the sheet of Peony and Laces it made me think of my ever growing collection of laces, ribbons and trims that I have stuffed into plastic boxes in my craft room....my favourites are my vintagey cream and vanilla trims and I decided they needed a pretty new home!

 

I covered one side of the trough with a panel cut from the sheet of Peony and Laces and the other side
was cut from the sheet of Peony and Letters. The left overs were used to cover the ends of the trough.

I gently inked around all of the edges of the trough using Tim Holtz Distress Ink Gathered Twigs to give it a slightly distress, aged look. And then picked one of my favourite trims and stuck it all the way round the top edges, allowing it to drape over the sides.

One of my other favourite embellishments is Blossoms, especially paper ones. I had a couple of lovely ones in my kit and also had a rummage in my own stash for a few more, along with some die cut Bazzill cardstock leaves. There is a super selection of Blossoms here in the shop to look at.

I also used a wooden word saying LOVELY which I inked with Bronze and Gold inkpads and made the word TRIMS using some metallic chipboard letters from my own stash. There is a vast selection of Alphabets in every colour and material HERE in the shop.
I then just added a few flat backed pearls to finish off the decorating....... and piled the trough up with all my lovely trims...they look much nicer in there than stuck inside a plastic box that's for sure!


                                   A couple of photos without all the trims in.

These troughs look lovely when decorated and could be used for all different things....as gift baskets on a theme, as storage around your own home....anything! And when there are such beautiful papers about like the Stamperia Range, what is stopping you?

Thank you so much for looking at my project today, I hope that you like it and you pop along to the shop and have a look at all the wonderful Stamperia Range and the other lovely goodies there that are for sale........ and don't forget the amazing SUMMER SALE is still on, full of bargains....too good to miss!

Warmest wishes
Anita xx